


Mag PD

by Binky



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: A fic for laughter mainly, But also some serious stuff to come, F/M, Half funny, Police AU, half serious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-15 17:23:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11810700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Binky/pseuds/Binky
Summary: AU. Mag PD had the highest arrest rate in Fiore. Nobody knows how with all the antics that ensue in a typical day at the precinct. What with Natsu being bitch slapped by a giant chicken, the constant pranks on each other, office chair race Wednesday? Its all a crazy mess, but they're family. And you laugh at family when they mess up or embarrass themselves right?





	1. Eisenwald Chicken

**Author's Note:**

> Just for a laugh - but might be some serious stuff to come later. Will see where this one goes - there's no plan really. So if anyone has an idea of a prank they can pull, let me know!

**Eisenwald Chicken**

She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, her cat in her arms. She wouldn't let her be experimented on - she refused!

"Hold up, little girl!" exclaimed the officer and as she turned around her eyes widened. She turned the corner and looked back again.

She just had to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. The policeman chasing her had pink hair but that wasn't the strange part. He was holding a CHICKEN DRUMSTICK in one hand and he was EATING it at the same time!

She turned back around, her long blue hair flowing behind her, her arms still clutching her cat for dear life and her eyes were focused on what was in front of her now.

She turned around corner and all of a sudden a sharp pain ran up her legs from her shins as she bowled over onto the ground.

"Ahhh!" she screamed but made sure to hold the cat in her arms. She would protect her no matter what!

Suddenly a pretty woman stood over her, clearly not impressed. She focused and realised the woman was an officer too. Her blonde hair was tied up into a pony tail and she then noticed how busty she was.

This woman was a model, she had to be. How could she be a police officer? But it was hard to miss her short sleeve t-shirt that had "MAG PD" written over her chest area. Was she in her exercise clothes because she was sure that what she was wearing was not a uniform, like the what the other police officers wore who patrolled the street.

The woman wore tight track pants, joggers and looked sweaty like the woman had been running way more than half a block (which was as far as she had run from where she'd rescued her cat).

"Alright Miss, I'm going to have to take you in-"

"Huh? Luce? I thought you were on a run..." exclaimed the pink haired man who was just finishing off his food.

The girl who's name was apparently 'Luce' bristled and walked over to the man, grabbing the rest of his drum stick and throwing it into a skip bin beside her. He screamed in anguish and she swore she saw tears in his eyes.

"Lucy! How could you!"

She watched as the girl's vein on her forehead began to throb and she regarded him with a deadly glare. "Natsu, for the last time, its Detective Heartfilia in public, you numbskull!"

The man pouted and nodded, bringing a hand to the back of his neck guiltily. "Sorry."

"And don't eat and run idiot...I mean how can a perp take you seriously when you do that?!"

She then turned to the girl and sighed.

"Now as for you, you're under arrest," she seemed to say this almost guiltily, her brown orbs showing something akin to remorse, like she didn't really want to arrest the girl with the cat in her arms.

Lucy began to vocalise her Miranda rights to the girl as she turned her small body around and cuffed her hands behind her back - her face against the wall. The cat stood beside her, purring and rubbing her slinky body against the girl's leg.

It was petty theft at best but Carla was her life and those _bastards_ stole her from her home and were going to do experiments on her. When she'd found her, Carla was in a cage!

And when she got to the Mag PD, she explained all this to Detective Heartfilia. She discovered that the _model_ AKA officer that arrested her was Lucy Heartfilia - a detective. She had then discovered that Lucy wasn't even on duty that day but witnessed Natsu chasing a girl down the street with a chicken drumstick in his hand and so, intervened.

_"What the fuck, Natsu?" exclaimed a man with short black hair, who had just waltzed through the Mag PD doors with a woman following behind who had tied back blue hair._

_"Want a go, Icicle toes?" snapped Natsu._

_"Who actually runs with food in their hand anyway? It gives you ingestion problems and not only that, it gives the precinct a bad name, idiot!"_

_The pink haired guy narrowed his eyes. "Not me, I don't get ingestion problems!"_

_"Its not something to be proud of, doofus."_

_Lucy was standing by just seething at the two of them arguing._

Wendy, after finding out the charges had been dropped, hugged Lucy tightly.

"Oh thank you, Miss Lucy!" she exclaimed, her face resting on top of her well endowed chest.

The woman had smiled and put a hand to the back of her head. "I know that you had good intentions but _please_ try and do things the legal way next time, Wendy."

The girl looked up and nodded with a big smile. She began to idolize Lucy because she was strong, smart, beautiful, kind and righteous - not to mention she had huge boobs which she aspired to have too.

But the one reason she decided to change her career path was because Lucy had believed in her - and Natsu too.

And that's how Wendy Marvell got arrested but then soon after decided to join the Magnolia Police Department.

The Magnolia Police Department held one of the highest arrest rates in all of Fiore. The Captain of the Mag PD was none other than Laxus Dreyer - his Grandfather had now retired - Makarov Dreyer.

The Lieutenant of the police department was Erza Scarlett, her partner being Jellal Fernandez. The detectives they had were a fine bunch, quite young too for their age. They were often displayed in the newspapers and also in a magazine that was a tabloid of sorts but instead of featuring celebrities it was for the purpose of showing embarrassing moments for Mag PD and often a lot of gossip within the police department was featured in the magazine.

For some reason, Source Weekly had not yet been shut down.

The top three detective teams, Wendy had discovered, were Team Dragneel (Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel), Team Fullbuster (Juvia Lockser and Grey Fullbuster) and Team Scarlett (Jellal Fernandez and Erza Scarlett). These three teams alone held the highest records of arrest rates across the country, making the Mag PD the best in Fiore.

But the one reason why she adored this department was because everyone actually enjoyed being there. They enjoyed making the world better, they enjoyed each others company, but above all...they had fun - some would say _too_ much fun. Well, for police officers anyway.

Between Taco Tuesday, Office Chair racing Wednesday, Dart Thursday and Fight Club Friday - she didn't understand how they held the record for highest arrests in Fiore.

As time went on and Wendy started to grasp the inner workings of Mag PD, she realised that they actually _did_ work but they just had fun as well. Plus, Monday was a full working day with no special events.

Wendy Marvell had been accepted to work as an assistant to Lisanna Strauss, the current administration officer and receptionist at Mag PD. Wendy was just barely seventeen years old, not quite old enough to take the test to join the police force, so this would have to do for the moment.

It was 8.30am on a Monday morning when the great Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia walked in. Now 'walked in' wasn't quite accurate, more like begrudgingly slid in like slugs.

"Mornin'" said Natsu, not even acknowledging them properly.

Natsu wore a suit, barely. It was the attire they were required to wear as detectives but Natsu actually hated wearing suits. He wore a white scarf around his neck and his paisley tie was loosely fitted which sat underneath the scarf. His suit pants were a bit crinkled and wore commando boots underneath. He had a vest over the top of his white button up dress shirt which she could tell didn't even match the suit at all.

Lucy on the other hand wore a short, tight black skirt, a white button up blouse with simple black flats on her feet (no heels in case she had to chase someone down). Her hair was tied into pony tail but the tail still reached down to the middle of her back and she waved at Wendy and Lisanna with a bright smile.

She seemed to be holding a jacket and it was...a men's jacket. Lucy then turned to Natsu, her smile gone. "Can you hold your own jacket? I carried it all the way from the apartment, you dolt!" she exclaimed angrily.

Natsu pouted and nodded as he grabbed his jacket from her and slowly went over and sat in their cubicle which was closest to the entrance. "And will you liven up, its Monday and I want to work on the kidnapping case."

As Lucy turned, Wendy noticed a blue looking cat under her arms. She'd learned that the cat's name was Happy and apparently he was the 'resident' police cat and Natsu's best friend. They brought Happy to the precinct every day.

Wendy held back a laugh at the two. When she had first started this job, she thought that Natsu and Lucy were married or at least together - but apparently that wasn't the case. But they could have fooled her.

When she had asked Lisanna about it, her eyes clouded for a moment. She then realised that Lisanna liked Natsu and they had been on a few dates - apparently they were going out but she wasn't sure that Natsu knew that. In fact, when they asked him about it he didn't blush and didn't seem awkward and simply said "Oh yeah, sometimes we hang out. She's a great gal."

And Natsu stayed over at Lucy's a lot too with Happy, she wasn't sure why because Lucy constantly said he wasn't welcome. It didn't seem to bother Lisanna either since her and Lucy were pretty good friends - like it was normal.

Suddenly the doors to the precinct opened again and the next power partnership arrived.

Team Fullbuster. Now, this seemed to wake Natsu up because within seconds Natsu and Gray were inches apart, insulting each other while Juvia stood behind them with a pout.

Gray wore grey slacks, dress shoes and...no shirt whatsoever. He was the resident stripper and Lucy and Erza had often threatened to arrest him for indecent exposure. But his partner, Juvia, loved every minute of it unless a girl was ogling him.

Juvia Lockser seemed to be a smart girl, pretty too, well endowed but also, she was serious when it came to her work. She joked around and pronounced her love for Gray all the time - got jealous of girls, mainly Lucy who was apparently her 'love rival' but when push came to shove, she was as serious as you can get when it came to arresting bad guys.

Gray Fullbuster was a broad, toned man who had the eyes of a man who had probably seen a lot in his life. He always was so cool looking - hence the nickname Ice Make Gray. Also, he liked to make ice sculptures in his free time, apparently. That included during work time when there was nothing to do.

And then Erza arrived and then things were flying everywhere. Natsu and Gray were knocked out on the ground, Lucy was laughing, Juvia was crying and Jellal had his head in his hands beside Erza who seemed _particularly_ ticked off.

Wendy spotted a white box that was smashed on the ground beside the two and she spotted the label. _Magnolia Luscious Cakes._

"Oh dear," said Wendy, looking to Lisanna who shared her sentiment.

"What was the reason for taking out your frustrations on my _strawberry cheesecake_?" cried Erza, looking to Jellal who just remained silent.

Jellal Fernandez was a quiet man but his eyes told a story that he had been through much in his life. He was an attractive young man, tall, with blue hair and a tattoo over his right eye. Erza and Jellal were older than the others - probably a good five years older actually.

Wendy noticed that he looked at Erza like she was his everything and then she understood why he loved his job and why he chose to be her partner - to protect her.

Although, there was no way that she needed protection, that was for sure.

Erza's voice brought her out of her thoughts from her desk.

"Erza," pleaded Natsu, his charcoal eyes peering up at his Lieutenant through his pink bangs.

"We're sorry," began Gray, his hands in a praying position in front of him.

They were on their knees now but her expression became dark as she pulled out her gun from a holster from her hip. Jellal rolled his eyes and Juvia cringed.

Lucy laughed.

"Prepare to die with _honor_!" she screamed, point her gun to Natsu's head.

"That's enough! Its too fucking loud in here for a Monday so calm the fuck down!" exclaimed a voice from an office at the far end of the office.

Blonde, spiky hair was seen and blue raging eyes. It was the Captain. Laxus Dreyer.

They all cringed at his voice and proceeded to practically run to their desks.

"So, Luce," began Natsu as he leaned back in his swivel chair, his legs spread in front of him, crossed on top of his desk. He had his arms folded behind his head as he looked over at his partner.

"Yes Natsu," drawled Lucy, her brown orbs eying him suspiciously from her own desk, peering around her flat screen monitor to face him.

She'd literally just logged in and already Natsu was bothering her.

"For dinner tonight...I thought what about roast beef and lots and lots of potatoes and meat and maybe-"

"Are you fucking serious?!" she shrilled but tried to be hushed so as not to annoy the Captain. "We literally just got into work...its eight forty five in the morning and you're already thinking of dinner?"

Natsu frowned as if she were crazy. "Uh, _yeah_. Food is very important Luce, you know that."

"Well, you have a date with Lisanna, remember?" she said with a huff. "So you should stay with her tonight, yeah?"

Lucy turned back to her work.

The partitions around their desks made each team's area for the most part, sort of private, so Lisanna couldn't hear their discussion from all the way near the entrance of the precinct.

Lucy had a feeling if she had, she would be quite annoyed with Natsu.

Natsu sighed. "What do you mean? We're going to some show or something...that's not dinner! I need food, Luce...FOOD! You should just come and bring Happy too!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. Natsu was so oblivious to Lisanna's feelings...hell, he was oblivious to anything other than fighting criminals and food!

"Luce?" prompted Natsu, taking his feet off the desk, pulling his chair in closer and peering around his own monitor.

Lucy's jaw tightened as her eyes flashed to his. "Can you at least _pretend_ you're working? I'm always the one solving the cases because you refuse to do any research!"

The salmon haired detective smirked. "And that's my girl! Always doing us a favor! You're so good at it!"

Meanwhile, over in the other cubicle, Gray and Juvia were both frantically typing something on their computer screen.

"Hah! I'm done!" exclaimed Gray as he peered over at Juvia who was sitting there twiddling her fingers.

"Gray-sama...I've been done for the last minute."

Gray moaned and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why must we compete?"

"Because flame brain can't type to save himself," groaned Gray, utterly defeated...by Juvia of all people!

Juvia laughed. "That's true."

Gray resigned himself to focusing on their case.

The Eisenwald Gang were notorious in Magnolia now, they had spread from Oshibana Town and now their reach was far enough to be in Mag PD's jurisdiction. They'd kidnapped many people but their main specialty was assassination. Of that, Gray was sure.

He scrolled his mouse down to see photos of victims they had killed but they never left a trace, other than their mark.

Over in the opposite cubicle, it seemed Team Redfox had arrived.

Gajeel was sitting in his chair with a guitar, humming away and Levy McGarden was almost at her limit with it.

"Are you going to actually work, Gajeel?" she snapped, her hazel orbs regarding him with annoyance. "Ugh. Never mind, I've found our suspect, lets go."

Gajeel nodded. "I knew you would, sweetheart." He got up and followed the little blue haired woman as she grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and stormed out of their cubicle with Gajeel on her heel.

Three heads popped out of the sides of their cubicles with curiosity. One with pink hair, one with black and the other had long red hair.

"What?!" exclaimed Gajeel. "We've got a perp to catch while you losers sit here bored outta your brains!"

They walked out of the precinct and Gajeel was still laughing.

The heads looked at each other and narrowed their eyes.

"Come Jellal! We must not waste time!"

"Gonna get one before you, flame brain."

"Screw you ice princess!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lunch time soon arrived and Natsu was racing around, trying to find Lucy. He walked up to Lisanna who _usually_ knew what was going on around the place.

"Hey Lisanna, have you seen Luce?" he asked frantically as his head darted all around trying to spot her. He had Happy in his arms too and he was mewing - obviously from hunger too.

Lisanna laughed. "Don't have lunch?"

Natsu looked down at Lisanna and smiled sheepishly. "Naww, she usually packs me some."

Lisanna pursed her lips at this comment. Her blue orbs stared up at him and she smiled. "You could always have lunch with me, I go to the coffee place across the road-"

"Thanks but I gotta find her. I know she's got those left overs from last nights dinner, don't worry, I'll find her!" he exclaimed as he rushed out to the precinct gym.

The white haired girl frowned. That boy probably didn't even know what he was feeling and although she felt a little sadness at this, she couldn't say she was surprised. She knew what Lucy and Natsu had ever since the incident last year when they arrested the boss of a human trafficking ring.

And Lucy was her good friend and only Lisanna knew what they were both feeling - it was a shame _they_ didn't.

Natsu found her with Wendy out at the gym, on the mats. Lucy was teaching her self defense and wore her tight exercise shorts and a tight white tank top - her long blonde hair tied in a messy bun on top of her head.

"...I get what you're saying Lucy, but I'm just a girl," whined Wendy, her eyes on the ground.

Lucy shook her head. "Never say that. Do you know how many men have underestimated me? Look, do you know my specialty? Everyone in this precinct has one."

"She's right, Wendy. If you knew the things Lucy could do to a man, you would wet your pants," said Natsu with a cringe as he sat himself on a bench a meter or so away from the blue rubber mats.

Wendy's eyes widened and her cheeks became flushed. "I-I can't do that...I'm not old enough..."

Lucy's eyes were wide as saucers and Natsu's cheeks turned a shade darker than a tomato. "Oh! I mean...I didn't mean-uh..."

"Oh god, have you two..."

"NO!"

"As if!"

They both yelled at the same time, flushed with embarrassment as they eyed each other awkwardly.

"No Wendy, what he means is...my specialty is close combat. I'm a master in Judo, Jujitsu and I know some other martial arts but I'm mediocre at those, I guess. But everyone at the precinct has a specialty. Natsu's is, well, he has two really. Close combat and arson, he's a master in Kung Fu and he majored in arson at the Academy. Juvia is an elite swimmer and was in the Navy, Gray is projectile weapons, Lieutenant Erza is a master in Kendo and Taekwondo, Jellal is a weapons expert and also is the person to call if you need expertise in explosives. Gajeel is also a master in Kung Fu but is also a marksman - and not just gun sharpshooting. He could throw a pencil and lodge it in someones throat from fifty meters away," laughed Lucy, earning a scoff from Natsu.

"Don't go overboard Luce, more like a meter!" exclaimed her partner in disgust.

"And Levy is an expert analyst. She's solved many a case right from her desk!"

"That's true, its the only reason Iron spaz has had so many arrests," mocked Natsu, crossing his arms over his chest.

Lucy sighed. "Just ignore him, Wendy. Well, how about I give you demonstration? Natsu, get over here!"

He whined and after realising he was still in his suit he went to the change room and came out sporting a white Mag PD tank top and grey track pants.

Lucy ignored how good his chest and abs looked in the top and asked him to attack her.

The next minute, he was on the ground with her thighs either side of his hips, straddling him with ease. He moaned a little from the impact - he was definitely going to bruise from what he just endured.

Wendy's eyes were wide with awe.

"Wow! I want to learn how to do that!" said Wendy with excitement.

Natsu looked up at Lucy but all he could see were her big boobs - kinda hard to miss. She got up off of him but he rushed to the change rooms with tight pants, saying he'd had enough and that it was about time they had lunch.

Lucy watched him walk off with curiosity but shrugged her shoulders as she explained techniques to Wendy and set up some times throughout the week for them to train.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Wendy sat at the reception desk, taking calls as usual. She saw Lucy walk past with Natsu and Gray. Team Dragneel were back in their detective attire.

"Are you happy now? The fucking microwave is toast, idiot!"

"Yeah, that was pretty lame flame brain. Wait till Erza sees it."

Natsu visibly paled and didn't respond.

Suddenly Lucy's mobile went off. "Yeah? I see. We're on our way."

Natsu looked to her with a questioning look. "Luce?"

"My CI said some guy is going around saying he's the Eisenwald Chicken...and although it sounds stupid, he is affiliated with the Eisenwald Gang."

Gray's eyes widened. "JUVIA! We're up!" yelled Gray, looking over to their cubicle to see the blue haired woman look around until she spotted Gray.

"Coming my love!"

Gray groaned.

"Uh, what the hell Ice shit, this is our suspect," snapped Natsu, grabbing Gray by his shirt (must have put one on after Erza had yelled at him earlier) and pulling him toward him menacingly.

"Like hell, Eisenwald is Team Fullbuster's case, flame brain so you better fucking recognise!"

Lucy sighed.

"You can all go," spoke the booming voice of Laxus who just happened to be walking back from the lunch room with a donut hanging from his mouth. "Don't fuck it up."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gray was laughing, Lucy was yelling at him and Juvia stood deadpanned watching this comedic scene of a police officer arresting a man in a big weird looking chicken mascot costume.

"MEAT!" screamed the man behind the costume.

The man was clearly insane but Natsu was so pissed off, he was going to arrest him if it _killed_ him. The mascot had breathed _fire_ at his face using some crude device that fake fire breathers used, so his eyebrows were singed and not only that, the chicken had bitch slapped him with his stupid mascot wings...twice.

Oh, that fucker was going to pay.

"MEAT GONE BAD!" screamed the man again as he was pushed, forcefully against a nearby car on the street.

Lucy watched as Natsu easily overpowered the suspect and couldn't help but stare a little _too_ long at his broad shoulders.

Natsu had since ripped off the arms of the mascot so he could get to the guy's arms and handcuffed him in a rough fashion.

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you do or say..."

Natsu read him his Miranda rights and shoved him into the back of their patrol car - which they had to borrow since Lucy's car was at the mechanics. He may or may not have 'accidentally' hit the guy's head on the top of the door frame.

Once he was secured in the back of the car, he slammed the door and snapped his gaze at Gray who had still not stopped laughing.

"Fuck you Fullbuster," snapped Natsu and then his eyes went to Lucy who hadn't been laughing but she didn't help either. "C'mon Luce."

Gray and Juvia followed them back to the precinct.

"So," began Natsu as he sat opposite the ridiculous man in front of him, who was handcuffed to the table.

Lucy stood behind him, leaning against the wall, noticing how the man still wore the tattered mascot outfit but at least now the head was off, so they could see his face.

Gray and Juvia were behind the double sided glass in front of them, much to Gray's anger, but Laxus said they could handle it and said that Team Fullbuster should just watch.

"You're in a lot of trouble Mr Gai," he said as he read some information from a file in front of him.

"Lullaby will still continue and all the meat will go bad!" squawked the man.

Natsu's patience was running thin.

Lucy frowned at his words. Lullaby - Lullaby was a name she recognised. It was a new drug on the street as she remembered her CI mentioning it once.

"Tell us more about Lullaby then," her sweet voice interjected with a small smile.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Natsu rounded the corner to hear laughter coming from the lunch room. He opened the door to see Gray - shirtless as usual - in the middle of a really bad imitation of the 'eisenwald chicken'. Obviously he was a fucking _comedian_.

All eyes turned on him.

"Whats for dinner Natsu?" asked Levy, holding back a snigger.

"Chicken?" exclaimed Gajeel who then guffawed.

Laughter erupted around the room and he went red as a tomato - but with annoyance more than anything.

"Yeah yeah, real fucking funny, guys!"

"Or maybe the chickens gone _BAD_!" spoke up Laxus who was also in on the laughter.

Natsu's eyes widened. "Not you too, Cap!"

Laughter was all he heard. He was getting pissed real fast and he looked over and saw Lisanna too, she was smiling so she obviously thought it was funny too.

"You have to admit, it was quite the comedic scene, Natsu," said Erza's commanding voice from across the room, next to Jellal who was smiling too.

"I mean, to be bitch slapped around by a chicken!" laughed Gray who was almost in tears at this point.

Natsu rounded on him. "Wanna fight, Icicle dick?!"

Gray's expression fell and his eyes narrowed. "What was that fire breath?"

A few minutes later they were heading down to Fairy Tail - the bar down town. Natsu was brooding the whole way, hands in his jean pockets.

Lucy walked beside him. "Don't be so mad, Natsu," she laughed.

Not you _too_.

"If we didn't laugh about stuff, we wouldn't be family," she smiled, linking her arm with his as they trotted toward their favourite after work hang out.

And then he smiled.

"And don't worry, the meat will be good here."

A vein in his head started to throb. God he was pissed off. Damn that fucking chicken guy! He was never going to live this down.

As Wendy sat down with a cranberry juice in her hand, she looked around at all the people she had met but a week ago. They were laughing, having fun and then suddenly Gray piped up.

"MEAT GONE BAD!"

"You are fucking dead, Ice popsicle!"


	2. Undercover - as a rubbish bin?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something serious, a prank, feelings? No...ridiculous!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all Thanks for the kudos etc. This story is a bit of fun and it will continue to have a lot funny bits but will have some serious stuff in it too (as seen below). Sorry just editing my notes in as I rushed uploading this as I was off to work haha. Enjoy and thanks again.

**Undercover - as a rubbish bin?  
**

He was still pissed off but he begrudgingly followed Lucy back to her apartment anyway, with Happy in his arms.

"It was just a joke, Natsu," she moaned as she fumbled around in her purse to find her keys.

He looked in another direction before reaching his empty hand into his back pocket. The rattle of keys caught her attention and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"What the fuck is that? They're not my keys..."

He handed her a set of keys. On the ring sat his own set of keys to her apartment, as well as a key to _his_ apartment which apparently was never used.

Natsu was still annoyed so he didn't really respond. She snatched them out of her hand with a grumble and unlocked the door.

"And why the hell would you agree with Ice Popsicle anyway?" whined Natsu as he went over and sat at her four seater round dining table, putting Happy on top of it. "You're _my_ partner, not his!"

Lucy shot him a look as she walked over to her breakfast bar, placed her keys on top of it and went to the fridge to pull out some orange juice.

"Oh for crying out loud...did you drink the rest?" she snapped, her head poking out from behind the fridge door.

The salmon haired boy cringed.

"Well...I forgive you, I'm going to bed now!"

"Yeah you fucking better run boy!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He awoke to the sound of his phone going off. _Apparently_ Grey was doing a double shift and decided to mock him.

**Ice Wanker:** _Enjoy traffic tomorrow, flame brain. LOL.  
_

That asshole. It wasn't his fault that Erza was unforgiving when it came to the microwave that he accidentally broke. How was he to know that metal doesn't go in it?

 **Flame Brain:** _Fuck you Popsicle._

 **Ice Wanker:** _Is Lucy up? I think her CI is here to see her. And also, stop going over to her place because she whines to ME about it.  
_

**Flame Brain:** _No, I'll wake her in a minute. And like I give a shit, Ice for Brains._

**Ice Wanker:** _What are ya gonna do when she gets a BF? Its getting weird, man. We're not kids anymore, you can't keep sharing her bed and expect people to accept that._

Natsu didn't respond. What the hell was his problem? He looked over at her form from his side of the bed, watching as her body moved slowly up and down evenly and then she moaned a little in her sleep and turned over. His eyes trailed down to look at the scar at the top of her left breast.

_"Its over. You're surrounded and you're under arrest."_

_Natsu held up his standard issue 9mm expertly in front of him, aimed at his assailant. But the man didn't look like he was about to get arrested, his eyes weren't focused on Natsu either, they were fixed on something behind him._

_Lucy had just walked in, after clearing the other areas, and her eyes widened. There was someone behind Natsu with a knife, edging closer and closer...they were going to kill him.  
_

_Before anyone could move, Lucy ran forward and tackled the man to the ground._

_She screamed, two gun shots rang out through the alleyway and Lucy was thrown to the ground with her hand to her chest, blood everywhere, her eyes clamped shut as pain ran through her body._

_Natsu yelled and ran toward Lucy after dealing a shot to the leg of the man in front of him and then a shot in the back of the man who was about to finish off the job on Lucy. He holstered his gun as he ran and then skidded to a halt beside her, putting his hands to her wound._

_"You fucking idiot, what the hell are you trying to pull?!" he spat as tears came to his eyes._

_She looked up and smiled, placing a hand to his cheek._

_"Y-you're okay," she said before passing out._

He remembered how he had carried her all the way to the front of the warehouse to get medical attention. She was so small and and lifeless, it wasn't her...it wasn't like her to be this quiet and still. The whole reason for the female and male detective partnerships - which was a directive from high above - was so the women wouldn't get overpowered by assailants...the men were supposed to protect their partner not the other way around.

He'd rather her yell at him and hit him for silly things that he did on a daily basis...just not this.

She'd protected him but who had protected her? The next day he had told her he could transfer so she could get a better partner, but she'd gotten so angry at him.

_"Why did you do that, Luce?"_

_He hadn't looked at her once as he sat on the bed beside her in the hospital._

_"Look at me, Natsu," she said._

_Finally, he gave in and his eyes met hers. And for a second, he was awestruck because although her hair was a mess, she was in a hospital gown and she had bandages around her torso, she still looked so beautiful.  
_

_There was **his** Lucy, the girl who always had his back, the one who many a time was shitty at him for stupid things but still very important in his life. If anything was certain, going from this incident, it was that she was precious to him.  
_

_Suddenly her hand intertwined with his and she smiled._

_"H-He was going to kill you, I had to-"_

_"No you didn't!" he exclaimed angrily, pulling out of her hold and then he got up and began pacing in front of her bed._

_"Natsu...I had to. I'm your partner. You know there's always a chance that we can get into serious danger in this job-"_

_"Well maybe I don't want that. Maybe I don't want to be your partner anymore!"_

_Silence enveloped the room. Natsu had done it now. He hadn't meant for it to quite come out like that but when he saw how horrified she was with tears brimming in her eyes, he knew he'd crossed a line._

_"Luce...jeez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," he said, walking closer to her to find her shrinking away from him._

_Fuck he was a tactless idiot. Her brown orbs closed but when she opened them he was actually scared. She stared at him, in her sitting position in the bed and regarded him like he was a criminal, crossing her arms over her chest in an authoritative manner, blinking away her tears._

_"If you think that you can get out of being my partner just because of this, think again, Dragneel!" she shrilled._

_He put up his hands as if surrendering. "O-okay Luce, jeez. I'm sorry okay."_

_She started really hounding into him about all the things that were going to change when they got back to the office._

_And then it was quiet again and just like that they were back to how they were. It was better that way, with their jokes and her getting angry at him and he acting like he didn't care about much. Because he didn't, well, not really._

_"But, I'm supposed to protect you, Luce. So lets both do better." He gave her a heart warming smile and she nodded, returning it._

Natsu sighed, remembering the incident well. He knew somewhere deep down that Gray had a point but she never showed interest in anyone so he just figured things were fine the way they were.

He must have been staring at her longer than he thought, because he looked at his phone and there was a message from Gray saying that the CI was heading to Lucy's apartment.

"What the..." Why would he head here? Had he been here before? Wasn't it against protocol for CI's to know where you lived?

There was a knock at the door so he got up off the bed and walked toward it. Natsu didn't even bother to put anything on, being still only in his boy leg black underpants and opened the door.

"Well if it isn't-" began the taller man with orange spiky hair but as he took in Natsu's _male_ form stopped speaking - his pick up line on the tip of his tongue.

He frowned at Natsu. "I, uh, wasn't aware that Lucy had a boyfriend," the man said with a frown.

Natsu looked at him. He had glasses, had attractive features for a man, looked to be in his mid twenties if he had to guess, was lean, tall and seemed like a sleaze to him. And why was he wearing a suit? And were those fox ears or something? Was there a dress up party that he wasn't aware of?

Natsu raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed, and leaned his side against the door frame with his toned muscled arms folded over his chest which were flexed a little in that position.

"Lucy's asleep," said Natsu with a yawn. "What's with the ears, man?"

The man laughed. "Oh these? Well, they call me Leo. Chicks dig it, ya know?"

Natsu stared at him deadpanned.

"Not really. Are you Lucy's CI?" asked Natsu, a bit more hushed as he heard Lucy turn in the bed behind him.

The man looked over Natsu's shoulder and spotted a small form with blonde hair in the background, turning in the large bed behind him. Natsu followed his gaze and turned back to him.

"Well?"

"Yeah, we have an _arrangement_. I have some info for her-"

"Why are you here? Don't you usually call?" Natsu interrupted, his anger level rising. Just who was this guy? And those 'lion' ears were _really_ pissing him off.

The man narrowed his eyes at Natsu. "What is this, twenty questions? Are you her boyfriend, because I was under the impression she was single."

The orange haired man sized up Natsu and then his eyebrow raised. "Oh I get it now, its an FWB situation, hey?"

Natsu was really confused now and pushed off the doorway, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck. "A what now?"

The man sighed. "Are you a complete idiot? Its _friends with benefits_ , you know..."

His charcoal eyes narrowed, still not getting it and the other man sighed, louder this time. "Oh my god, you are an idiot. Its when two friends decide to have sex with no strings attached... _are you getting it now_?"

Natsu's cheeks darkened and although it was sort of dark, apart from the light coming from the street and into the room, the man could see it and he smirked.

"You must be Natsu Dragneel then, Lucy's partner. I honestly wouldn't have picked her to sleep with you though...thought she liked confident, _experienced_ men," drawled the man with a frown.

"Y-you...I should fucking arrest you," gasped Natsu, his face getting hotter by the minute. As if he...as if _they_ would...and his mind was going dirty, thinking of things he shouldn't think about with _her_.

Suddenly he slammed the door shut. He heard the man say "Hey man, not cool" on the other side.

A moan was heard from the bed and so he walked back over to it and slipped back in.

" _Natsu_ ," her tired voice murmured.

He looked down at her as he laid his head on the pillow and turned his body to face her. "Go back to sleep."

"Who was it?"

He watched how her lips moved but didn't really hear the words - had they always looked so...

No. What the hell? That stupid guy! And Gray, it was Gray's fault too. Why did people have to ruin what they had?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You idiot!" screamed Lucy, back at the precinct.

Natsu shrugged. "Didn't think it was important?" he said as he shoveled down cereal, sitting in a chair at the dining table in the precinct kitchen.

Lucy was making a coffee and Gray had just asked her if her CI met with her and also was laughing at how Natsu was dressed in blues since he was on traffic today. This also meant that Lucy was dressed in uniform too since she would have no partner.

"Honestly, why didn't you tell me he came over, Natsu?"

"Because he's a sleaze and he...said things that will haunt me for the rest of my days," said Natsu, quietly, staring off into nothing like he'd been traumatized.

Gray laughed out loud. After all, _he_ had been the one to point him into the right direction and it was gold.

"I should have fucking arrested the bastard," snapped Natsu as he shoved a spoonful of chocolatey goodness in his mouth.

His crunching could be heard throughout the lunch room.

Some other uniformed officers were in there too, talking among themselves when one of them looked up at Natsu and laughed.

"Ooh, Natsu, in your blues today bud. On traffic I hear!"

"Shut up Alzack, he's not going to be able to direct traffic when I'm through with him!" said Lucy as she walked over to him, grabbing his uniform shirt in her fists, bringing his face to mere inches to her own.

His eyes widened. "L-Luce?"

"You're dead. It was probably about Eisenwald, you idiot!"

"I'm pretty sure it was about him _trying to hook up with you!_ "

"What? Are you insane?!"

"No, its true! He's a total sleaze, I think you should drop the CI, he's not even good. I mean, he lead us to that stupid Eisenwald chicken which was a waste of time."

Sniggering was heard and they both turned their heads at Gray.

"No way, that was total gold," laughed the black haired man.

"SHUT UP GRAY!" they both yelled in unison.

Alzack and Bisca watched on, as well as the other uniform partnership who were currently also in the kitchen - Jet and Droy.

"Man, they're at it again," said Jet, cringing as Lucy was now slapping Natsu upside the head.

"Is it just me or do they actually seem like they're in love?" asked Bisca, her eye twitching at the scene.

"Erm, could be. I hear Natsu sleeps at her house all the time. Warren said he seen him walking to her house a few times after their shift ends," said Droy as he shoved some chicken in his mouth.

"Well, Natsu is as dense as they come, there's no way he'll figure anything out any time soon. Its the same with Levy and Gajeel. Total egg heads when it comes to romance," laughed Alzack. "But gotta say, they're one kick ass detective team when it comes to it though. _Both_ teams."

They all murmured their agreements but kept watching on.

Suddenly Juvia walked in and sighed at the display.

Natsu and Gray were now fighting with Lucy yelling at them both.

"Eisenwald's our case, flame shit! So back the fuck off!"

"Fuck you Popsicle turd, you can't take them on your own anyway!"

"Says who? You're on traffic remember?"

"Only for today!"

"Oh? Well due to your fuck up, Lucy's with her CI all of today!"

Natsu stopped his ministrations for a moment and looked at the blonde who was seething beside them.

"That true, Luce?"

"Yes, Natsu. We're going to get to the bottom of this mess and we might have some undercover work to do-"

He let go of Gray, who grabbed a shirt from Juvia's awaiting hands.

"How is it I only just met the guy last night? Who is he anyway?"

Lucy sighed, sipping her coffee with her bottom leaning against the counter. Her brown orbs looked up at him, noticing how annoyed he looked.

"His name is Loke. He is one the distributors for Eisenwald's various products. They have a lot of distributors so they don't have their eyes on him yet."

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "Well I don't like him."

Gray piped up with a laugh, knowing exactly why he didn't like him.

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?!" exclaimed a booming voice from the entrance of the kitchen.

Their faces all lost colour and then Gray looked to his left, on the counter, to see another white box that they had inadvertently squashed.

"Oh...fuck," whispered Gray in Natsu's direction.

"MY FUCKING STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE, YOU BASTARDS! THAT'S IT! TACO TUESDAY IS CANCELLED!"

Gasps were heard throughout the kitchen.

"Thanks a lot!" grumbled Droy with sadness. His beloved Taco Tuesday was ruined!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

All eyes fell on the entrance and several heads popped up from the cubicles in the detectives area. A black spiky haired one, a black haired one and a red haired head. Their eyes noticed some large rubbish bins being brought into the precinct.

They looked big enough to fit people in them.

Blonde hair could be seen and then orange.

"Listen up everybody, I need people to volunteer to go on an undercover operation!" exclaimed Lucy, standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips.

Gajeel, Erza and Gray were in front of her in seconds.

"Oh Lucy, I'm so proud of you," beamed Erza, looking down at her with pride in her eyes. They were sparkling and it was weirding Lucy out. "What is this mission? I will carry it out with honor!"

The other two groaned.

"What does it entail exactly?" asked Gray, suspicious of the garbage bins.

Lucy turned to him with a sly smile which bothered him...a lot.

"Eisenwald's money launderer is in town and apparently he's a real clean freak. Has these bins out everywhere and I thought that you three could hide yourselves in these to get some intel. We have an arrangement with the rubbish bin company, so you will meet them at their factory, hop into the bin and will be delivered along with various other bins."

"I hate to break it to you bunny girl, but won't they see us inside them when they open the lid?" said Gajeel, suspicious.

The last time Lucy asked them to do something weird like this, she was pranking them. And she was very suspicious because she hadn't pulled a prank like this in a while now.

Lucy held back a grin. "Well the bins at their warehouse are full so he is ordering fifty more. They won't use the bins you will be in yet so you'll be able to get some good footage. The money launderer is unknown, very careful, methodical and elusive. This is our only chance, since he's in Magnolia."

Erza nodded throughout the explanation with stars in her eyes. "Oh this is perfect. Excellent work Lucy!"

Lucy began to sweat drop as Erza grabbed Lucy's hand and began to praise her efforts. "Ah-thanks Lieutenant."

Gray looked at Lucy suspiciously. "This is a prank isn't it," said Gray with a deadpanned expression.

Some uniformed police officers that had been walking by, stopped to listen in for a moment. Everyone loved a good prank at Mag PD.

Lucy pursed her looked and looked to Gray seriously. "Tell him, Loke."

The tall orange haired man pushed up his glasses and looked to Gray. "Come on man, why would Lucy waste precious government resources to pull a prank?"

Gray narrowed his eyes at him and then looked at the others who just shrugged their shoulders.

"But garbage bins? Really?"

Levy and Juvia both walked up with some folders in hand. "Guys, I just heard word from my CI that Eisenwald are planning something."

Gray groaned. "Seriously, what is with everyone getting in on _my_ case?!"

Erza clicked her tongue in disapproval, her long red locks flowing around her as she got into a 'meaningful' stance in front of Gray, gracefully pointing at him in a comical way (but to her, it probably felt like she looked amazing and wise) and practically shone.

"Team work is what makes this precinct the best, Gray. And it brings tears to my eyes when we all work together and come up with new ways to take down those who prey on the weak!"

Gray was just too appalled by her actions to even speak, his eyes wide with horror. Jellal stood behind her and really wanted to be elsewhere.

Gajeel started laughing. Levy stood by awkwardly and Lucy cringed.

"Juvia thinks that Gray will feel good after this, knowing that he will have identified one of the gang members," she nodded in approval, her eyes with stars in them. "Only my Gray-sama will be the first to spot him before the others!"

His eyes lit up. "YES! And that idiot Natsu won't be here to stop me 'cause he's on traffic like a loser!" he began to laugh hysterically, walking back to his cubicle to grab his keys for his apartment.

They were all going to have to change clothes if they wanted to spend hours in a rubbish bin.

Everyone watched with with sweat forming on their foreheads.

" _Anyway_ ," began Lucy, her eyes back on Gajeel and Erza.

"Erza, don't you think someone else should go for you? You're the Lieutenant...you'll be needed here," spoke up Jellal, placing a hand on his partner's shoulder.

The scarlet haired woman sighed. _Damn Jellal for always being right! I was **this** close to getting some action._

"I'll have to pull Natsu from traffic. ALZACK!"

Said officer came into view, walking from the kitchen with Bisca behind him. "Please relieve Natsu, he has a task to complete."

"Yes ma'am," spoke Alzack with a nod.

The Lieutenant looked back to the others and then gave Lucy a nod.

"Well then, lets go to the meeting room to discuss the particulars of the stake out..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The precinct was buzzing with activity. Phones were ringing off the hook, with Wendy and Lisanna taking the calls quickly and directing people to wait for assistance.

The detectives that were left at the back, in their cubicles, were doing their jobs. Research was what was needed here and since Taco Tuesday had been officially cancelled there was nothing left to do but work.

Erza was on the phone with a contact of hers, Jellal had retrieved some boxes from evidence and coroner's reports, wanting to go over some information on some of the crimes that the police suspected the Eisenwald gang had been involved with.

Levy was on her computer, reading up on every file she could that involved the gang. Making sure timelines met up, connecting suspects who belonged to the Eisenwald gang to crimes and also places they had been spotted.

Gajeel, Natsu and Gray had already left for the rubbish disposal company, with Lucy.

"Status?" growled Laxus, leaning on the doorway of his office which faced the detectives. He wore a big thick fur lined jacket which sat on his shoulders, but he never put his arms through.

Natsu always mocked him about it, saying that he just did it to make himself look cool. He also used to say that Laxus _gave himself_ the lightening looking scar that sat across his left eye to make him seem like a bad ass.

He never said the last part in front of the Captain though - god no. He wanted to live, after all.

Levy looked up, catching the Captain's eyes. "Sir! Nothing so far but I have noticed that I believe the members of the gang that we _do_ know are always the ones that show up in surveillance footage. Its like they want us to only see them and when our focus is on them, we miss any other details. Like when a noble was killed on a train to Magnolia a few weeks ago, eye witnesses told us that Byard Ishni was on the scene but they also said that they noticed that Byard held eye contact with someone on the opposite side of the carriage door but couldn't see who it was. This fact was forgotten because Byard was the main focus."

Laxus mulled over her words and nodded. "I think you're onto something McGarden. Go over every single eye witness account and double check."

Her blue hair bobbed up and down as she nodded. "Yes sir!"

His eyes went to Erza and Jellal.

"Sir, my contacts say that there is buzz in the underworld in Magnolia...and fear. Someone of importance is definitely arriving or has already. I'll keep on it, there must be more to it."

Laxus nodded. "Sir, I've been over all the evidence and coroner's reports and while there isn't much here that would suggest what we haven't already concluded, there is this," began Jellal. He held up a bag with a small unidentified piece of shrapnel. "No weapons were found on scene but some of the coroner's reports stated that the cause of death was severe beating and blood loss, however, one coroner stated that he thought that one wound was covered up by the beatings but because of the state of the body, his theory was inconclusive. I believe that the weapon used in these particular cases - in which the victims were all business owners - possibly belonged to the man we're after."

Laxus narrowed his eyes. Of course. "Keep me apprised."

He walked back into his office, closing the door behind him and picked up the phone to the Mayor. He could finally tell him they were making progress on the year long case of Eisenwald. And it was all thanks to Lucy.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"This is so fucking shit," whispered Natsu, clearly annoyed.

They were chatting through their ear pieces, quietly, with a small pencil hole in the middle of the front between the floor and the top of the bin so they could see some of what was going on around them.

"Shut up, Flame Brain. Be grateful you're not directing traffic," hissed Gray, barely above a whisper.

The truth of the matter was, they had been sitting here for an hour and no one had even come by yet.

The bins had been placed by the waste disposal company, so the workers here didn't realise that the bins were actually 'full'. They had sat them inside a garage which was directly next to some smaller room with a metal door.

They'd heard voices behind it, but nothing in detail so far.

Suddenly the voices got louder and then the metal door opened. Loud guffawing could be heard and what they thought were praises...but to whom?

"Sounds like Gajeel after he's been drinking," sniggered Natsu quietly.

"What was that, fire retard?" snapped Gajeel.

"SHHHHH!" both Gray and Natsu whispered.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," hissed Gajeel as softly as he could manage.

Footsteps were heard and from Natsu's position, he could see someone walking through the garage.

"Erigor," said a stone cold voice and the footsteps stopped.

Natsu put his eye directly on the hole in the bin. He was so cramped in the bottom of the bin but his focus was solely on this conversation. He pulled away and stuck the optic camera cable through the hole to point it in the direction of where he believed the people were standing.

"Yeah boss?"

"Good job so far but remember, the police department is different here. I'm surprised they haven't sent anyone undercover yet but my suspicions are on everyone."

"So you want me to do the geezer in or what?"

"Just make sure that the money is secured, they can't arrest us if its a charity."

"It's what I'm paid to do, boss."

Suddenly the man turned and looked at in the direction of the bins.

"And just what's with all these bins, Erigor?"

"I like a clean house, nothin' wrong with that."

Suddenly a car door opening, shutting and then the revving of a car was heard. The doors to the garage opened, the car sped out and then the doors closed. The metal door opened again with more laughter heard.

Then it was quiet again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Err, I haven't heard anything for ages," said Gray.

"Yeah-"

The sound of Natsu snoring was heard.

"For fuck sake, Natsu, wake up!"

"Hey I felt like we were being moved before, wonder where that guy took us?" whispered Gajeel, clearly over the mission. It felt like it had been hours.

Suddenly one of the lids opened and a banana peel was thrown in. It hit Gajeel's head with a 'slop' sound.

He didn't say anything but Gray could hear Gajeel growling...he was pissed off.

"Think of the mission Redfox...I mean we _are_ in a rubbish bin," reasoned Gray.

Suddenly Gray's lid opened and a half opened can of beans was thrown in, spilling all over his head.

"Gihi, what was that Fullbuster?"

A vein on the top of Gray's head began to pulse and so he breathed deeply, trying to breath out his anger.

Suddenly the sound of Natsu yawning was heard.

"Glad to see you're back with us, idiot. How long have you been asleep?" whispered Gajeel, incredulous he'd slept when the banging of the lids should have woken him.

"Jeez, I donno. Not long, did I miss-" suddenly the lid of his bin opened and a bag of cooked fish bones poured in and then the lid closed again.

The other two sniggered. "Oh my fucking god, it stinks so bad...I think I might-"

"Don't!" the other two gasped between hushed laughing as they held a hand to their mouths. "Think of the-"

Both their lids opened at once and chicken bones, half empty, sour cartons of milk and wrappers poured into their bins. And then Natsu's opened and more fish bones and chicken carcasses poured in.

The veins on all their foreheads pulsed. Gajeel closed his eyes, breathing calmly. Gray shook with annoyance. Natsu...he was having trouble breathing without the smell making him want to throw up.

"I CAN'T!" screamed Natsu, suddenly. "No more!"

He stood up, with a struggle, and pushed the lid open. The consequences be damned. The whole of Eisenwald could come at him for all he cared because he wasn't going to put up with one more piece of stinking rubbish on his head!

"Come at me you disgusting fucks!" he roared with fire in his eyes as he emerged to find that their bins were now in an alleyway outside...behind Mag PD.

Erza, Jellal, Laxus, Lucy, Juvia, Levy, Alzack, Bisca, Droy and Jet stood there with bags of rubbish, stunned that he had given up so easily.

The other two emerged from theirs, either side Natsu and stared in horror. There was silence throughout the alley way until the three men in the bin realised...

"I FUCKING KNEW IT, LUCY! YOU PRANKED US!"

The others dropped the bags of rubbish as they were chased off by Gray and Gajeel but Natsu, who had just jumped out of the disgusting bin had his eyes trained on Lucy who looked to him with remorse.

"I-I'm sorry?" she asked, sheepishly, with a half smile.

Natsu regarded her and then his charcoal orbs glowed with a predatory gleam and his mouth was upturned with a sly smile.

"N-no...DON'T!" she screamed as he edged closer toward her and she backed away until her back was against the wall.

Lucy frantically looked around for anyone to save her.

"Oh no, Luce, there's no one to save you."

And he closed in.

She squealed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was six in the evening with most of the detective's shifts coming to an end and the police precinct was full of laughter. Three individuals, who had now showered and all were changed into spare blue uniforms (the uniform that they had mocked Natsu for wearing that morning), took a walk of shame through the office where people laughed, clapping them on their backs saying "how was _rubbish_ duty, boys" or "heard you had a _rubbish_ day" and there were many other puns.

Gajeel was at wits end and was going to snap at any moment. Natsu wasn't as annoyed anymore, he was thinking of other things...

Gray sighed but admitted that Lucy had the better hand this time.

"C'mon Redfox, she got us good. She's just paying us back for our prank against _her_ last time," said Gray with a shrug.

The man with studs in his eyebrows turned and narrowed his eyes at him as they walked to their cubicles. "I got mould stuck in my hair...I think some of it went it my mouth by accident!"

Gray cringed and usually he'd laugh but the same thing happened to him so he kept quiet.

"But don't worry, we'll bide our time because the next prank's on her. Bet the Captain'll be pissed when he finds out, gihihi," laughed Gajeel but when the boys arrived at their cubicles and their eyes reached the Captain's office, they all groaned.

Loud, obnoxious laughter was heard and then Laxus Dreyer leaned against his door frame, his arms folded over his chest.

"You're so gullible. I expected it of Dragneel and even Redfox...but Fullbuster?" his eyes going to each officer as he spoke and then he erupted in laughter once again.

They never saw their Captain laugh like this and it was very disconcerting. Lucy walked over as she'd just finished printing off her report to give to their Captain and handed him a file, along with some evidence tapes.

And then he turned to look down at her and...smiled?

What the hell was going on?

"Heartfilia, you've made my day. Not only did we get an ID on an elusive criminal but you also pranked these idiots. Color me impressed. Tell you what, first rounds on me at Fairy Tail. Lets go!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

She pulled off her blue police uniform and swore that she wasn't going to wear it ever again. It was god awful.

It was a testament to how men orientated the police force had been before her year of academy recruits showed up a few years ago. The uniform did nothing for women's bodies whatsoever. Yes, it looked sexy on Natsu since she could see how lean he was through his shirt and she supposed it looked manly but that was because a man in uniform was always hot...

And then she just realised what she had thought and cringed with her cheeks getting hotter by the second.

 _Oh god...the alleyway_ , she thought, closing her eyes for a moment to try and stop her remembering.

_She really couldn't go anywhere as his arms suddenly shot forward and had pinned either side her shoulders. She could literally smell the garbage on him and although it was sickening something was different about Natsu right now and she wasn't sure what._

_Lucy had expected him to practically bear hug her to pass on his stench in revenge but instead here he was looking down at her, his expression looked thoughtful...and since when was he silent like this?_

_"You got us good, Luce," he said quietly, his body probably an a few inches from hers._

_"L-look, I was just getting you back-"_

_"You know, we're turning twenty five this year," he said suddenly, his charcoal orbs looking down at her with an unreadable expression. She'd never seen him look at her this way, in fact, never saw him look at **anyone** like that. _

_Lucy frowned at this, was this really the time to be talking about how old they were? She was already dreading it, damn it._

_"Natsu..."_

_But he didn't say anything. Instead, his face started moving toward hers and she was so shocked she couldn't move. His lips were a hairs breadth away from hers when the back doors of the precinct opened loudly._

_Suddenly Natsu's head was on her shoulder and he'd grabbed her in a bear hug. She screamed._

_"You asshole!"_

_His laughter erupted through the alleyway._

_"If I'm gonna smell, so are you."_

_"Thought I'd find you guys like this," laughed Wendy as she came out to see them in a hug. She laughed. "He would have to get you back after what **you** pulled Lucy!" _

_"Don't just stand there Wendy, help me!"_

Lucy touched her lips and wondered...what would have happened if Wendy hadn't opened those doors.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gray was slurring, Gajeel was laughing, Natsu was banging his fist on the bar, demanding more alcohol, Laxus had his arm draped around a busty brunette, his cheeks a little pink from the alcohol.

The girl's stared on from their booth and laughed, practically in tears.

"Juvia would normally scold Lucy for that prank but I must say...it was well executed," laughed Juvia, slapping Lucy on the back.

"Oh yes, very well done. Did you see Gajeel's face?" laughed Levy, banging her palm on the table as laughter erupted again.

"Cheers!" they all exclaimed as they slammed their glasses full of beer together.

Gray stared over at the girl's booth and narrowed his hazy eyes.

"W-hat the fuck hic," slurred Gray. "Laughin' at us."

Natsu turned and when he spotted Lucy he turned away again. How Gray noticed this in his state, he had no idea.

Suddenly two hands slapped Natsu on the back. He looked up at Gajeel and then Gray and he looked at them questioningly.

"So, you slept with bunny girl. No big deal. I've done it plenty of times with Levy, she's a real alley cat in bed," smiled Gajeel with a wink.

Gray and Natsu's eyes widened in horror and their cheeks turned a dark shade of tomato. Gray not so much because he didn't really have a full grasp of reality right now, but Natsu.

Shit, he knew.

"I-what the fuck, Redfox?!" he exclaimed but then noticed eyes land on him at his outburst. "I did _not_!" he said more quietly.

Gajeel smiled with a raised eyebrow. "Hmm, but you wanna though, hey?"

Natsu just stared at the taller man, what was Gajeel's deal? He looked down at the empty pint glasses in front of him and sighed. "You're drunk."

"Nar, not quite. But I will be shortly I reckon."

The pink haired man turned to stare at Lucy again and sighed. "I sleep with her all the time, why would I want to do what I've always done?"

Gajeel began to really laugh now. "Naw, I mean-" he began before leaning into Natsu's ear. "- _screw her brains out_."

Natsu's eyes widened and he turned and narrowed his eyes at Gajeel, now fully grasping what he meant.

"We're _partners_ ," defended Natsu.

The guy shrugged. "Yeah I know but it won't affect work, trust me I know."

Natsu began to seeth because now all he thought about was...dirty things. "What is with everyone today? Trying to ruin everything, talkin' about stuff that don't matter," grumbled Natsu, swigging some of his beer into his mouth and then looked down at Gray who had his head on the bar, his eyes closed and some drool was sliding down the corner of his mouth.

"I'll just take a little pic of this first," whispered Natsu with a grin as he pulled out his smart phone.

"Yo, Juvia. You better take ice prick home!" yelled Natsu from the bar.

Juvia sauntered over, putting one of Gray's arms over her shoulders and nodded her thanks.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Here he was, watching her sleep again. Fucking bastards, ruining his thoughts. Before today, he'd never thought of the stuff he had.

Although, it was a lie wasn't it?

Suddenly she turned over. "Natsu..." she moaned.

His eyes widened.

"...rubbish eater," she said with a huge grin as her brown eyes were on him now, mischievously.

He grumbled and turned his back to her. "Another thing I'll never live down." As if he'd want to be with _her_ , she was a cruel, sadistic woman.


	3. All's Fair in Love and Internal Affairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juvia's first prank, a new lead from Loki and Internal Affairs shows up. And don't forget about Dart Thursday and Fight Club Friday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. Thanks so much for the kudos. I appreciate it. I thought I better have some focus on one of the other partnerships a bit in this one - but ultimately, it is a NaLu fic. But there will be some of the others too, so some more Gruvia, Garvy, Jerza and possibly CanaxLaxus and MiraxLaxus. This one has more serious stuff in it too but still has the humor in it too. It will be like this a bit now because there's some stuff going on but will always add some humor in each chapter, regardless of what's going on. Thanks, y'all!

**All's Fair in Love and Internal Affairs**

Juvia Lockser was many things, but a prankster, she was not. She laughed and found them funny but when it came to her turn to pull it off, she just couldn't do it. Of course, when the others initiated it, she would play along and participate with them but on her own? She had no chance.

Even when her friends and colleagues gave her ideas, she would get to the point of attempting to go through with it and then at the last moment, would change her mind.

She was going to ask Detective McGarden how _she_ could do it and Levy was the type of girl who you would look at and think _wow, she's sweet as sugar_ or _what a_ _very nice young lady_. She was not one you would imagine could have left a whoopee cushion, colored in black, on their Captain's chair and when he sat on it, a huge, deafening fart noise echoed through the precinct.

She _definitely_ was not someone who you'd think would magnetize Gajeel's piercings on his face while he was sleeping and when he woke up and walked into the precinct, was the laughing stock of the day when cute little pony and cupcake magnets were stuck to his face without him noticing (he wasn't exactly one to look in the mirror much).

Juvia had never laughed so hard that day and she was never one to really laugh at all that much, even when she found something funny.

Of course, she would have asked Detective Heartfilia (the girl's master of pranks) but alas, she was out investigating a lead with Detective Dragneel, which Gray-sama was pissed about because it must have had something to do with Eisenwald.

But she distinctly remembered Lucy's words before she left.

_"I think its time Juvia," said Lucy, all eyes now on the star swimmer as they sat in the kitchen. The male detectives had just left for some early morning sparring before starting work.  
_

_Erza sat around the large, square dining table with a piece of strawberry cake (don't ask why she was eating it this early in the morning), fork poised just above it as if she were thinking just how wonderful it was going to feel in her mouth. Her eyes twinkled with joy as she finally sliced her fork through._

_Levy sat with a steaming, black coffee and a novel in her hand, legs crossed femininely and glasses over her eyes with a concentrating gaze._

_Lisanna and Wendy were listening intently to what Lucy was saying, opposite Erza. Lisanna held a latte and took a sip and Wendy sipped a fruit box, her eyes expectant on what Lucy was trying to say._

_Lucy wore her hair in pig tails today, wearing a tight white blouse and black mini skirt and wore black ballet flats on her feet. Her legs were crossed as she held a piece of toast in her hand, just finishing her bite as she continued voicing her thoughts._

_"Juvia doesn't understand," spoke the introverted, blue haired girl._

_Lucy sighed, sitting her toast onto her plate and turned to face Juvia fully. It was then that Juvia noticed how Lucy's well endowed cleavage was showing but ignored it for now. Gray wasn't in sight, after all, so it didn't really matter._

_"They think they're safe out there," said Lucy as her lips upturned into a grin and her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "They think because of yesterday, that pranks are off the table from us for a while...but they're dead wrong."_

_Juvia nodded. "That's true."_

_"Yeah I agree, I mean, we can't let slide what they did to us last month," said Levy, not looking up from her book and took a sip from her coffee._

_Erza nodded also. "This is true. And how many cakes have Gray and Natsu ruined...those cakes...oh WHY!?" screamed Erza hysterically.  
_

_Lucy coughed awkwardly at the older woman's outburst._

_"But of course, the prank last month was **obviously** the main reason why we must take vengeance," said Erza, trying to maintain her calm. _

_Lisanna laughed lightly. "I remember too, we all had to go home and change," cringed the white haired receptionist._

_Wendy frowned. "What did they do, Lucy?"_

_The blonde turned to the younger recruit and pouted. "We'd just closed a particular joint and grueling case involving a homicide and I suppose we were all exhausted and...vulnerable."_

_"Oh **yes**...it was the first time Jellal had actually been in on it," spoke Erza, her tones low and dangerous, her eyes met Wendy's and she could see the betrayal behind them._

_"The basement was flooded and the Captain was shitty because it meant no water came from the taps and he gets quite grumpy without coffee," explained Lucy.  
_

_"One by one, we were 'lured' down there to help our prospective partner but apparently the plumber was fixing the pipes already and each of us at the time had **thought** they were down there and needed our help but as soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs - soaked to our stomachs by the way - something fell on top of us! It was sewage!" _

_Wendy laughed but then stopped suddenly at Erza's growl._

_"Just thinking about it makes me very...annoyed. And to think that each one of us fell for the same trick!" yelled Erza, shoving a large piece of cake in her mouth._

_Levy cringed at the thought. "We all had to go home to shower and change and we come back to find that the water had been pumped out of the basement and the pipes fixed all within half an hour! And they weren't even down there to begin with, they had a walky sitting on a shelf down there, projecting their voices. Of course, usually on a normal day, we would have known it wasn't their voice coming from a walky but we were just so exhausted from the day..."_

_"The point is, Juvia, that I think its turn for you to have your **first** ," said Lucy with a smile. "You're a prank virgin and I think you should think of something good."_

_Juvia groaned, gripping her cup of espresso tightly. "I-I'm not good at this though, Lucy. Gray-sama would suspect me straight away."_

_Erza finished her cake and then turned to the girl. "Lucy, I think a group prank is too much for Juvia. Start with something small - just on Fullbuster. Think about it today and we can try and execute it later."_

Juvia sighed as she reached Levy's desk, her expression was dark and troubled, causing Levy to jump up and grab the girl's shoulders.

"You can do this," whispered Levy, with a reassuring smile. "Have you thought of something?"

She nodded. "I'll do it today."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gray strode into the precinct after arguing for half an hour with Natsu out the back where the police vehicles were. That damned bastard, trying to steal his case!

Lucy had screamed at them both but they never listened, he was too pissed off!

And somewhere along the way, he'd lost his shirt and his pants were undone...whoops.

"Put some pants on, pervert!" yelled Lisanna from her desk, shielding Wendy's eyes.

Gray waved her away. "Yeah, yeah."

When he'd walked to his desk, Juvia was no where to be seen. He turned and noticed some people had already started lining up the office chairs for today's race, even though it wouldn't happen till later on in the day, since Natsu wasn't here.

He walked up to Gajeel's desk.

"Yo, iron breath, where's Juvia?"

Gajeel narrowed his eyes and leaned over at Gray. "I know you're not talkin' ta ME like that, icicle shit!"

Gray's jaw tightened in anger. "Shit yeah I am, metal eater. Well? Do you know where she is or what?"

"Tch. Why don't you keep a leash on 'er if you're that concerned?"

"Gajeel!" screeched Levy, angrily.

Gajeel cringed. "Uh-I mean, she's probably following a lead, you know, since we're at work and everything?"

Gray rolled his eyes. "Says you, holding a guitar like you can actually play-"

"What was that, perverted asshole?"

"Sorry, I said you can't play so stop making our ears bleed!"

A few bruises and punches later, Gray was walking down the corridor, rubbing his jaw tenderly, to the precinct pool where Juvia often frequented when she wasn't following him around, _annoyingly_.

"Fucking bastard..." he said under his breath as he pushed open the doors to the pool, referring to Gajeel from earlier. A whiff of chlorine reached his nostrils and the splashing of water.

He saw Juvia in the water, just finishing a lap when a dark shadow was seen under the water. His eyes widened and went from the thing in the water to Juvia at the end.

They watched it all happen from a crack in the door to the women's bathroom, a camera recording everything. Erza cringed and Lisanna sighed.

"I'm not sure Juvia understands the concept of a prank," said the quite voice of Wendy. The other two nodded.

"Hmm, but a prank is a prank," said Erza, just as Gray's high pitched squeal echoed off the walls of the pool room.

"I take that back, that was gold," laughed Wendy with tears in her eyes. "And we got it on tape, we'll be able to play it back for everyone at Fairy Tail!"

The other two, whom were also in tears, looked to the younger girl. "You're learning. I think you're fitting in quite well!" exclaimed Erza with a beaming smile.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lucy and Natsu arrived back at the precinct to find that they had started office chair race Wednesday out in the kitchen without them.

"What the fuck?! Who said they could start without me? I wanted to break my record!" exclaimed Natsu angrily, racing off toward the kitchen immediately.

The blonde shook her head and as she walked to go to her cubicle, noticed that Gray and Juvia were quite silent.

"What's wrong with you guys?" asked Lucy, walking over to Juvia with a frown. She sat her hand bag next to Juvia's desk and looked over at Gray who was clearly annoyed about something.

"Ask _Juvia_ , she did something _unforgivable!_ "

The girl in question pouted and nodded. "I-I pulled a prank."

"Tch. A prank is meant to be pulled on _everyone_ , not just-"

Lucy stalked over to Gray and slapped him upside the head. "Ow! What the hell was that for, Lucy?"

"You're just pissed that she got you because she's the _only_ one who wouldn't do it to you. But...she must have got you good," smirked Lucy, looking over to Juvia who held a very small smile, her cheeks pink.

"SHUT UP! I'm going to Fairy Tail, I'm done for the day anyway."

He didn't even look back at Juvia as he stalked off, shirtless, with his hands in his pockets.

Brown orbs found Juvia's and she sunk into her office chair, ashamed. "He's so mad at me. Gray-sama will never forgive me."

Lucy sighed and walked back over to Juvia, pulling her into a hug. "Listen, he's just like that because it was unexpected from you. I pull pranks on Natsu all the time and he never gets shitty...well, he doesn't _stay_ shitty. Just means Gray probably hates the fact that you did it because you're always so loyal to him."

"M-maybe I shouldn't have...Juvia loves and respects him that's why I did it. I want him to respect me too."

A thought dawned on Lucy and her eyes widened. "Oh dear...maybe its because he _can't_ pull one on you because this was like a declaration of war and he doesn't want to lose...but he already has!"

Juvia was confused now. The blonde leaned down with a playful glint in her eyes. "Oh Juvia, this is the best news. You're the first one of us that has actually tamed one of them...he can't pull a prank on you because, well, he must like you more than a friend."

Juvia shook her head. "No he did last month, remember? And many other times..."

"No, group pranks don't count. I mean just you...he can't do it. He's never done it. Gray has done it to me, Levy, Lisanna and even Erza! But not you," explained Lucy quickly as she picked up her handbag. "Now come on, we have to get to Fairy Tail!"

She grabbed Juvia's hand, whizzing her toward the doors and past Natsu who had just won the office chair Wednesday game.

"Luce, where are ya going?!" they heard him exclaim before they were out the door and heading toward the Fairy Tail bar.

"I wanted to tell you how I won..." he said with a pout, watching the blonde and blue haired detectives race off.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Laughter erupted loudly in the room as the footage was played for everyone to see. Alzack had brought his and Bisca's flat screen from their house down to the bar and Gray's high pitched screams reverberated around the room.

He had thought a shark was in the pool, earlier, but had slipped as he'd tried to run toward her and fell in.

Apparently it was a remote controlled toy shark that Juvia had since she was young. It was typical that she'd chosen a prank like that because it had been one of her day dream fantasies for him to save her.

She had the remote in her hand and as soon as Gray entered, she began to control it to come toward her. Juvia had expected him to yell at her about a shark being in the pool - pathetic idea really - but in the end, turned into the funniest thing anyone had seen.

The cool as ice Detective Fullbuster, slipping and falling into the pool after yelling for Juvia to get out of the pool - racing toward her for dear life, like she meant something to him.

People slapped her on the back, nodding their respect.

"Yo Lockser, that was gold," laughed the Captain, from his spot at the bar with a long white haired girl under his arm this time. He held up his pint of beer in the air.

Juvia could only nod with a small smile but she didn't feel like celebrating. Some people were re-inventing Gray's scene, imitating his scream or how he fell and the whole room was full of mockery and laughter. Lucy was gone at the moment and then Juvia spotted her over with Natsu in a booth, sitting next to Gajeel and Levy. They were laughing and drinking.

Were they couples now? Her mind took over as she saw Natsu draping his arm over Lucy's shoulder, leaning down and kissing her passionately. Gajeel on the other side reached his arm over to Levy, grabbing her small chin and put his lips to hers.

Over at the bar she watched as her Captain was practically dry humping the woman with the long white hair.

She cringed and shook her head and looked around again to find it wasn't as she had seen it before.

It seems her day dreaming was getting the better of her again.

Suddenly she felt a large hand grab her upper arm roughly and found herself dragged out into the cool night air. Her back was against the wall to the side of Fairy Tail, no one in sight, but the cool dark eyes of Gray Fullbuster.

"G-Gray-sama!"

Gray remained silent for a moment but he shook with anger. Something was clearly on his mind but she was scared. Her Gray-sama was the butt of the jokes tonight and it was because of her.

"You...do you know what you've done?!" he exclaimed angrily, his eyes blazed with betrayal.

"L-Lucy said it was okay because I hadn't pranked anyone yet. I am the only one-"

" **Not** to me!" he snapped, grasping her either side her shoulders in a tight, vice like grip.

Her eyes widened in shock and tears slid down her face silently. What had she done? It was just a prank, right? But of course he was right, she'd betrayed him.

But she had often been jealous of the others and how they could successfully pull pranks off like child's play, so why couldn't she?

She remembered the time when Lucy and Natsu had come back from a visit to a widow, questioning her about her husband's murder and how Lucy was laughing and Natsu was seething. He was drenched in oil because Lucy had asked him to go and ask why the truck was blocking their access to the police vehicle drive way and when he'd walked around the side, oil had been dropped onto his head. After he showered and got ready to go to Fairy Tail, meeting them all back at the precinct, he had acknowledged her prank, despite being laughed at by everyone, and everything was normal.

She remembered the time when Levy had given Gajeel a present for his birthday and when he opened it, it exploded and white flour had come out and covered him head to toe and she caught him on film and showed everyone at the precinct. He'd been the laughing stock for a week, people asking him what ingredient they needed to make a cake or Natsu calling him a white fluffy cloud but through all that, he acknowledged Levy's prank and everything again was normal for them.

She also remembered when Jellal - or Mr Stick in the Mud as Natsu called him sometimes - had walked into the kitchen to look for his sandwich and took a bite with everyone watching him and his face went as blue as his hair and threw up in the bin. Erza had put worms in it. It was funny because Jellal was pretty particular with his food, only eating ordinary, standard things. Every day he came to work with a neat packed lunch and every day it was always ham and cheese sandwiches. Everyone had broken down in laughter, tears in their eyes. And he had yelled Erza's name in a rage but then afterwards, he acknowledged the prank and even laughed.

But her? Her prank wasn't even near as bad as all of those - well, she didn't think it was - so why wouldn't he just...forgive her?

"B-but Gray-sama, Lucy does it to Dragneel all the time! And the same for Erza and Levy...I've never done it before and Lucy said it was time. I just...I thought-"

"You're so damn...annoying. You're always following me around when we're not even on cases and saying stupid things," ranted Gray, rubbing the back of his head and his eyes had averted to the wall now, like he was trying to work something out in his head.

"I-I understand, Gray-sama. I'm sorry, I've betrayed you," said Juvia nodding and accepting his words. Her eyes looked to him but he still continued to look at anywhere but her. "I just wish that sometimes you would acknowledge Juvia and respect me like you do Erza, Lucy and Levy. They have all the fun and I just...wanted to as well."

Gray looked at her now, his expression thoughtful. His hands were still on her shoulders and he seemed to be leaning in closer now. His eyes were clouded with something she couldn't ascertain.

"G-gray-sama-"

"You're so annoying, you silly girl," he said softly, barely above a whisper before he began to lean his lips toward hers.

His lips must have brushed against hers but he leaned back as if he was stopping himself. "I-I thought we had an unspoken thing."

Juvia was confused, wishing he'd touch her again, anything, even the grip he had on her before was better than nothing.

"Gray-sama?"

"Well, I never prank you, well not personally. I do it to everyone else, just not you, cos we're partners and...you know." Gray's cheeks started to turn pink, even in the dim light of the alley, she could see it.

Her eyes widened. "Do you mean...do you mean that you-"

"You know damn well what I mean!" he shouted, embarrassed. "I don't need to say it."

Juvia started to glow and her lips upturned into the biggest smile he'd ever seen and he started to smile too. "Come on, guess its my turn to be the joke tonight."

He put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her toward him as they walked inside.

* * *

Lucy Heartfilia was overjoyed. The information her CI just gave her would probably turn their case upside down.

She stared at the message through the darkness, the only light in the room coming from her phone which lit up her smiling face.

"What is it Luce?" groaned a cracked, tired voice from beside her.

"Its Loki," she began and suddenly Natsu sprung to life, sitting up like lightening and leaned closer to Lucy, looking over her shoulder at the message.

"What? What the fuck does he want? Its too early for this shit," moaned Natsu, yawning as his eyes focused on the small screen. He squinted to try and read the message.

She snapped her head towards his and pulled the phone away from his vision. "Its never too early for police work, we are on the clock at all times if its important."

He reached for her phone, but she held it away from his reach in one hand, which caused him to reach for it more. "I'll tell you in the morning!" she snapped. "Besides...why are you in my bed again! And is that..." she began when she felt a furry body at her foot.

She lifted up the covers to see glowing eyes looking back at her. " _Happy..."_

Lucy looked back at Natsu who simply smiled sheepishly. "Luce, you know its just that your bed is so much more comfortable and this is Happy's second home."

She rolled her eyes and laid back down with her back to Natsu. Suddenly she felt a strong muscled arm snake around her body but didn't move him away as the front of his body covered her back, his head rested on her pillow just above hers and his legs intertwined with hers from behind.

"My patience is running thin, _boy_ ," she said threateningly but not really protesting as much as she should.

"What did he say?" his voice tickling some of her hair on top of her head as he spoke quietly.

"He has a lead. A big one. But it can wait till we get to work. Gray isn't going to like it," she said softly, her eyes closed now. "Lets sleep, I'm tired."

"Will I like it?"

She didn't respond, so he left it alone for now. He was surprised he hadn't been kicked out with the move he just pulled but Lucy must have been too tired to protest, so he wasn't going to complain. She was cold anyway, so the least he could do was warm his partner up.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Bullshit."

They sat around the meeting room, all the detective teams in their division as well as the Captain and some trusted uniformed officers too. It was a rectangular, standard room with a large conference sixteen seated table in the middle with black leather chairs lining the sides. There was a projector set up but wasn't being used today.

Lucy stood at the front, briefing them all on what Loki had discovered.

"This could be our chance to find out who the top leaders of Eisenwald are and we can bring this case to a close."

The Captain pursed his lips at the back, in the middle of the table, his eyes on Lucy.

"Why does Lucy get all this info before me? I'm on the fucking case!" exclaimed Gray in annoyance.

"Maybe cos she has the better CI, numb nuts," spoke Gajeel's gravelly voice.

Gray's jaw tightened as he narrowed his eyes at the detective and they began a stare off.

"What was that, metal face?!"

"You heard me, ice prick!"

"You wanna fight cos I'm right here, iron shit!"

"Oh, bring it on. Any time, any where ice popsicle!"

"Shut up both of you!" exclaimed Natsu, narrowing his eyes at Gajeel and then Gray. "Cos you know I could take you both on and not even break a sweat."

The rest of the room groaned.

"And here I thought Natsu was actually going to be mature for once," moaned Lucy.

"That a challenge, fire breath?"

"Oh, I think it was, icicle!"

"SHUT UP THE LOT OF YOU!" exclaimed the Captain's booming voice.

Silence enveloped the room. "Every time we have these meetings, you three are _always_ doing this shit. I want these Eisenwalds either outta my town or behind bars, you feel me?!" exclaimed Laxus, his eyes narrowed at the three before his expression became more calm. "Besides, tomorrow is fight club Friday and lets just say that certain _younger_ participants have never beat the champion...which is me."

The room groaned again and the three who had been fighting rounded on the Captain. "We'll see who has the last laugh, Cap."

"Yeah, it'll be my pleasure to beat you into the dirt, Sir."

"Don't get so cocky, Sir. I believe it was me who had you on the rails, last week."

"What? Don't be so stupid Fullbuster, I was feigning so I could knock you out!"

"EXCUSE FUCKING ME!" yelled Lucy from the front. "We're in the middle of _something_."

"Yes, Sir, please. This is the time for us to be serious," spoke Erza with a frown, clearly disappointed in Laxus.

The blonde man looked away from Erza. He wouldn't say he was scared of her...because he wasn't...much. Because he was the boss, damn it!

He cleared his throat and ushered the boys away from him. "Yes. Of course Lucy, please continue."

"What I was getting at earlier is that I was thinking that Detective Dragneel and myself could go undercover at the meeting," began Lucy, her eyes meeting Natsu's confused ones.

"Err, what meeting?" he asked with confusion.

She groaned. "I literally just explained that the leader of Eisenwald is holding a meeting with all the distributors, the money launderer, Erigor Grim, business partners, and various people which they probably haven't even met and yet, rely on them to carry out their business on behalf of the leader. The distributors also use other people to distribute their products around the land, including Magnolia and this is where we come in."

"I'm not liking the sound of this, Luce," said Natsu with a frown.

"Look-" she began but was interrupted with the appearance of some unexpected people, entering the meeting room.

"Ah, please continue Detective. Don't let us interrupt," spoke a voice.

The Captain, as well as the rest of the room, turned to face the men who entered.

"Internal Affairs? And to what do we owe the _displeasure,"_ groaned Laxus with a roll of the eyes.

A tall man with long dark brown hair, up in a pony tail, glasses and a black suit stood beside the man whom spoke earlier - his name as Lahar Ito. The man whom spoke wore a similar suit, had a cross like scar on his left upper cheek and wore a hanging earring on his left ear. He had spiky black hair and stared at the Captain with contempt - his name is Doranbolt Yashima - although, years ago, he had introduced himself as Mest Gryder, which was a pseudonym he'd come to use over the years.

"Excuse me Captain but don't forget, we are usually only here because of something _your_ department has done to cause such investigations," spat Doranbolt with displeasure.

"That's correct and although you've had some headway with the Eisenwald case, we've come to suspect some foul play as to why the case hasn't been brought to a close as yet. This came from higher in the food chain," explained Lahar.

Doranbolt's eyes then met Lucy's at the front of the room and she immediately looked away, her expression thoughtful of the day she first met him.

And Natsu absolutely hated the guy. Well, they all hated internal affairs but he hated Doranbolt the most, especially after what he did to Lucy years ago.

"Please continue as per normal, we are merely observing," said Doranbolt softly, his eyes not leaving Lucy's form.

"V-very well," said Lucy, still avoiding the newcomers. "As I was saying, I believe if we went undercover as a distributor working for Loke, I think this would be enough to finally take them down. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity because the leader of the gang will be there. This person has never been identified, being someone who is never seen by lower divisions of their gang."

"Tch. No offense to Lucy but you don't exactly look the part of a drug distributor," said Gray, negatively. "If anyone, it should be metal head because he at least looks like some ruffian drug lord."

Gajeel got up from his spot opposite Gray and grabbed the front of his shirt (which he seemed to be wearing for once). "What was that ice brain?!"

"You heard me, metal face-"

Lucy looked to Natsu who seemed to shrug. To be honest, he didn't really want Lucy and him to go. More so Lucy. He was happy to go and didn't mind in the slightest but he just felt off about her going on a dangerous mission like that.

In their line of work, danger went hand in hand but undercover work was the most dangerous job of all. Lucy didn't have much experience undercover, where as, Natsu, Gajeel and Gray had done it plenty of times.

And something just didn't sit right with her being in constant threat of being found out and then could be shot or killed. He couldn't protect her from everything, that much was certain if he was going off previous events.

"She would be perfect, actually," cut in Doranbolt.

Lucy looked up at him in surprise. Natsu narrowed his eyes, clenching his fists.

"What? How'd you figure that, Mr IA?" grunted Gajeel.

The others looked on in curiosity to see where this conversation was going to go.

"Well, the distributor's use companies or people with nobility to sell their products, nowadays. And we all the know the Heartfilia name is well known throughout these parts," explained Doranbolt.

Laxus stared at the Internal Affairs officer with incredulity. Just what was their _play_ here?

Natsu was practically breathing fire with how mad he was. He pushed off from his spot on the wall, near Lucy and walked toward the officer. Doranbolt held his ground but couldn't say he wasn't afraid of the pink haired detective - not after last time he'd crossed _opinions_ with him years ago.

But he wouldn't attack him with all these witnesses, he would be suspended on the spot.

"What the hell?! You can't put her on the street, using her _real_ name, dumb ass!" spat Natsu, rage in his eyes as she stopped but a foot in front of Doranbolt, holding back the urge to punch the guy right in the face.

The officer looked at Natsu. He was a pretty tough unit, Natsu Dragneel. Broad shouldered, muscled - he must work out a lot - and he was fiercely protective of his friends, especially Lucy Heartifilia. He'd had special training with one of the most deadly men in Fiore, Igneel Dragneel who had been in the Special Forces and served in the last war over in Bosco and he'd also arrested a lot of criminals, gone undercover and uprooted a few organisations and criminal groups throughout Magnolia in his time. Also, he had been voted Magnolia's third most attractive male officer in Magnolia Police Department - according to Source Weekly.

But he wasn't scared...he wasn't.

"I-in this case, we have to. We need these guys behind bars and we need to do what we can to ensure it. This is our best chance, as Detective Hearfilia just mentioned, and this is a good plan," said Doranbolt, meeting Natsu's gaze. "Unless of course there's a _reason_ why you don't want her to do this?"

The pink haired detective was seething with rage.

"What do you mean, asshole? Why would anyone in their right mind go undercover with their real name? Everyone knows that even if you take a gang down, you can't get everyone and then she'll be a target!"

"He's absolutely right," snapped Laxus, getting up from his chair, standing to the side of Doranbolt.

He turned to face the Captain to see him towering over him. Yep, he was scary too.

"Its out of the question!" said Laxus, his voice dangerous as he folded his arms over his chest. "We'll have Gajeel, Natsu and Gray do it."

He heard Gajeel and Gray in the background, fist bump each other and Natsu's shoulder's seemed to relax a little as he nodded at his Captain.

Doranbolt, however, shook his head. "No," he said as he reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"This is from Commissioner Hades," spoke Doranbolt, holding the page out for Laxus to read.

"You're fucking kidding me."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You shall not defeat me, Dragneel!" exclaimed Erza's confident voice as she poised herself professionally, dart in hand and threw the small object into the air.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath, wondering if she would do the impossible and hit the bulls eye, which would effectively beat the defending champion - Natsu.

It landed into the bulls eye and knocked Natsu's previous dart off the board. It fell to the ground with a small 'clunk' sound and Natsu had his mouth and eyes open wide, comically, and everyone roared with laughter and joy.

They were in all the kitchen, which seemed to be spacious enough for many activities, huddled around watching the two duke it out now because Natsu was convinced Erza was cheating and she was appalled that he would accuse her of such sinister tricks.

"Now, now, fight club Friday is tomorrow, guys," said Levy with a laugh.

Lucy sat beside her and nodded. "Come on. Dart Thursday's winner is Erza. You'll have to wait for next week to challenge her, Natsu."

When he heard her voice he turned to look at her and an unreadable expression dawned his face. For once he listened to her and nodded. He pat a hand on Erza's shoulder.

"Next week then, Scarlett," he said with a small smile and she nodded.

"Look forward to it, Dragneel. Now...who's next?!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lucy sat, cross legged in her underwear, in front of her laptop. She'd never paid attention to anything her father had taught her about their company because she knew that wasn't going to be her career path, but now she wished she had.

Jude Heartfilia hadn't exactly been happy when Lucy had decided to join the police force but over the years, it seemed the distance made their relationship much better than it had been. He had finally accepted the fact that his little girl wasn't little anymore and that she was her own woman and had grown to support Lucy with her goals in life.

They kept in touch a few times a month, over the phone, but Lucy thought she better call her father to let her know what she was doing now and that it involved his company, somewhat.

Although, it wouldn't impact on them much, but if things didn't turn out well with this undercover operation it may come to light that their company may be involved in criminal activities and so they would need a fail safe plan so that it wouldn't ruin the Heartfilia company name.

She'd just gotten off the phone with him and although he wasn't pleased about it, he accepted it and told her to be careful and not to worry about him and the company. He would figure something out if something _did_ happen.

He had just emailed her some files and so, she was sifting through them to read up about the company, in case she were asked. She needed to know the inner workings of it so that she could act accordingly, if needed.

She sighed but her thoughts went to Doranbolt and how he had supported her like that in front of everyone. What he had done to her back then, was, unforgivable but she could appreciate why he did it.

But that wasn't why she was so irked by him. It was because of what he said afterward.

_"You're a beautiful creature, Lucy. It would be a shame for someone like you to be caught up in this mess. Things won't always stay this way. The department will change and your boyfriend Dragneel won't be able to save you."_

_He leaned over and grabbed her cheek before it was hit away. The charcoal orbs of Natsu, who stood in front of Lucy, entered his vision. He held her behind him protectively._

_"Don't fucking touch her! I know what you did, asshole. What the hell is wrong with you? That's a new low, even for Internal Affairs..."_

_Doranbolt nodded. "I know but it was necessary. We have to choose one new recruit, fresh out of the academy, to target. I would have chosen you a year ago too but I know how you would react...but her? I had no idea she was this loyal. But don't worry, she passed with flying colors. There's no way she could be corrupted."_

_"My ass it was, I knew you were bad news the moment I laid eyes on you. Stay away from her and stay away from Mag PD...period."_

_"Remember my words, Heartfilia."_

Lucy didn't realise a tear had fallen down her face at the memory and then she turned to see Natsu staring at her, worried. How long had she been sitting there, thinking of past memories?

"Oh, hey, Natsu," she said and then frowned. "I'm in my underwear you know and why are you here?!"

His face relaxed, realising Lucy was back to normal.

"I live here?"

"LIKE FUCK YOU DO!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They walked into the office and for some reason it was lively. Not with cases or criminals being arrested - as you would think it would be, since it _is_ a police precinct - but instead people were animated and excited because it was Friday. And that meant fight club Friday.

Gajeel walked around with a black headband on, talking himself up about how he was going to beat Laxus. Unfortunately, Natsu heard this as soon as they arrived at their cubicle and so a fight erupted.

And then Gray turned up and had stripped off his shirt and tie and went into the fray.

The three girls stood and watched on, rolling their eyes.

"This old chestnut," said Lucy, deadpanned.

"I can't watch this," whined Levy.

"Gray-sama is quite lively for this early in the morning," said Juvia but also could not watch.

"Oh dear, and here comes the Captain," said Lucy with a smile. "Don't worry, he'll break it-never mind, he's joining in."

Suddenly Jellal was next to them and sighed. "Erza has now joined," he said, shaking his head.

"Oh well, guess fight club is starting a bit earlier...as long as they don't destroy furniture, like last time-oh never mind, there goes the spare desk in the corner," said Lisanna, her voice sweet but clearly not happy.

"Is it always like this, Lucy?" asked a younger voice from behind them.

They all turned and nodded. "Wendy. This is Mag PD. Anything goes, around here," laughed Lucy.


	4. Fight Club Friday and Double Shift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of fight club Friday, double shift for two of our detectives and...a surprise.

**Fight Club Friday and Double Shift**

"Alright, lets keep this manly!" exclaimed a voice.

Lucy walked into the gym to see a sight for sore eyes. Her eyes lit up when she saw the big, muscly mountain of a man named Elfman Strauss - Lisanna's brother. He worked in the gang unit upstairs.

He'd always wanted to be a detective, which he was for some time, before unexpectedly transferring upstairs.

But it was Lucy who knew why. She'd caught Elfman and Evergreen (one of Laxus' expert team members) in lip-lock in the alley way of Fairy Tail a few years ago and to say she was surprised would be lying. They were always arguing, every time they saw each other and while the other girls thought they hated each other, it was Lucy who had a bet with Lisanna about how she believed that it was attraction rather than dislike. Their arguments had always been the talk of the precinct, whether it was about the color tie Elfman was wearing or how his opinion was wrong about a case or even about food! It was always something, but Lucy had suspected that Evergreen really was just trying to get Elfman's attention.

And then of course, she won the bet, because he transferred to Evergreen's unit upstairs.

Elfman's eyes caught hers and he smiled and waved but didn't come over, because their day shift had ended and it was now Fight Club Friday.

Laxus stood in the center of the room, his signature fur jacket off his shoulders and his purple button up dress top and tie were visible. He'd rolled up his sleeves across his forearms, his muscles visible, and he still wore his black dress pants and shoes.

He did this every time because no one really challenged him that much - they tried, oh boy they did. But none were successful.

Suddenly a fight broke out about who the first challenger would be. It lasted a little over half an hour before Lucy had become over it.

She rarely participated in this event because she had better things to do, plus it was entertaining to see Natsu on his ass, but someone had to do it so the _other_ fighting would stop so they could get on with it.

"I'll challenge!" she snapped.

Suddenly all eyes were on her.

"No way! Its my _turn!_ " exclaimed Natsu, his charcoal orbs reflecting annoyance.

"Yeah, you'll never have a chance anyway!" complained Gray as his eyes graced hers with the same feeling as Natsu's.

Lucy sighed. What did she have to lose anyway? She knew Laxus would win because even Natsu hadn't been able to beat him yet. But it entertained the others and what the hell, she wouldn't let him have the win easily.

She'd been watching these fights for a long time. Laxus had strength, was a smart fighter and had no mercy, not even to a woman.

But he was slow.

His eyes were on her with curiosity and a smirk graced his lips.

" _You_ want to challenge _me_ , girl?" he scoffed as Lucy made her way toward him.

She'd already gotten changed into black tights, sneakers and the dark blue Mag PD short sleeve exercise shirt, which stopped just at her mid drift. Lucy's hair was tied into a high pony tail, which swayed as she walked into the center of the room.

"Yes. Well those idiots kept arguing for ages and was starting to piss me off, Captain. Plus I've never challenged before," said Lucy with a shrug.

Juvia looked at Lucy with stars in her eyes. Oh, what a role model! And although she was a love rival, she had to just admire Lucy right now.

Levy looked fearful, Erza nodded her respect and Lisanna face palmed.

"Well, this isn't gonna be very entertaining," said Gray, under his breath.

Gajeel was perplexed but he wondered...would she really be able to even get a hit on him?

Jellal pondered for a moment but didn't actually feel like Lucy would fair that badly. He and Erza were probably the only people who felt that she may last longer than anticipated, although, there was someone unexpected who also felt like she wouldn't be too bad out there.

"Wow Lucy! MANLY!" exclaimed Elfman, nodding his respect at her.

Natsu however didn't like this. She was taking his thunder and plus...he didn't think she would lose as easily as Gray imagined.

All the others could do was sit around in front of the equipment that had all been moved to the edges of the room.

Laxus laughed. "That's true. They _are_ idiots. And here I thought Natsu was going to try and lay a punch on my face."

Lucy sighed. "Lets get on with it then."

Elfman nodded and stepped forward as a referee. "Begin."

Unlike many of the other opponents, Lucy didn't charge head first. Laxus and Lucy circled each other. The male blonde held his fists up, bouncing from toe to toe like a boxer, but hadn't yet made a move.

And Lucy was biding her time, watching his movements. And then she saw his foot move and so she dodged easily as his big fist came for her face.

"Hmm, lucky dodge, Lucy," he smirked.

And then another, which she dodged.

Laxus frowned. He really should have knocked her out by now.

Finally he rushed forward to perform an upper cut, but it was his mistake.

"Come on now, Sir," she said, grabbing his arm and flipping him to the ground.

Everyone gasped in surprise as Lucy stood above him.

"You know that I'm a master in Judo, that was too easy," said Lucy, her brown orbs dancing with playfulness.

This was actually fun - now she knew why the boys were fighting all the time.

Laxus was surprised but that soon turned to annoyance as he was on his feet, battle stance in place once again.

"Huh. Well I'll be damned. You are the first to actually get me on the ground. You've colored me impressed once again," said Laxus but then his eyes gleamed in a dangerous way. "But, I was going easy on you as I have with the others. I know you've been observing too because you think I'm slow, right?"

Lucy's eyes narrowed at him. She wondered, was he just trying to get into her head or was he telling the truth?

Suddenly a fist came toward her; fast. She managed to dodge it but then a flurry of fists came. She managed to dodge those too, barely, but then a round house came her way. She rolled under it but then as she was standing back up a fist landed in her stomach.

She was on the ground, in quite a lot of pain she might add. And when she looked up at Laxus who stood above her victorious, she knew he hadn't even used his full strength.

"Take a good, hard look, boys!" exclaimed Laxus, his eyes now on Natsu, Gray and Gajeel. "This girl has given me a better fight than _any of you_! So...rounds on me at Fairy Tail, lets go!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You can take him next time, Natsu," pouted Lucy, her chin resting on his shoulder as he piggy backed her back to her apartment.

He laughed and nodded. "Still can't believe you had him on the ground."

Lucy sighed. "I honestly think he let me."

Natsu didn't think so but anything is possible with the Captain. He was a champion mixed martial artist - he'd won two titles as well as being renown throughout Mag PD.

"How's your stomach? Still hurting?" he asked as they got her her apartment.

She slipped off his back and put her key in the door.

"Its a little tender but I'll be fine. You should go back, Natsu, I think Gray wanted to-" she began as she stood in the door frame looking up at Natsu who was giving her a weird look. It was a common occurrence of late and she couldn't work out what he was thinking. "What?"

"Naww, lets go to bed," he said suddenly, pushing past her with an unreadable expression.

Since when did he knock back a challenge from Gray?

"Well, okay I guess," she grumbled, closing the door.

They laid in bed now and she could feel his eyes on her.

"What is it? You've been acting so weird lately, Natsu," she moaned as her eyes focused on his form in the darkness.

"I-I just...I don't want you to go on this undercover mission."

Lucy groaned in frustration. "We've talked about this a million times-"

"I hate that bastard Doranbolt. He's up to something, I know it, and I don't like the way he looks at you," growled Natsu, folding his arms over his chest and now his body faced upwards as he glared at the ceiling.

Lucy pursed her lips. Did Natsu...?

"Are you jealous?"

Her voice seemed to cut into him like ice.

"Tch. Why would I be? _" Liar._ "Its just, its gonna be a dangerous mission, ya know?"

"You know, that day, he asked me on a date."

His eyes widened like saucers, he didn't notice how Lucy had gotten so close to his body and he turned to find her face right near his.

The words were out of his mouth before he could think. "And that bothers me, because?" Well, what else was he going to say? That it _did_ bother him and that it only gave him _more_ reason to hate the guy? Hell no, he wasn't giving in.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him and remained silent because maybe it _slightly_ annoyed her that he didn't care. They stared at each other as they both laid on their sides, facing each other.

He wasn't exactly an expert on relationships and such but he was _pretty_ sure that she just lied to him. He knew Lucy like the back of his hand and he stared down criminals on a day to day basis who always lied, so of course he knew that what Lucy said wasn't true.

"He didn't though, did he?" spoke Natsu, breaking through the silence.

Lucy pursed her lips and Natsu stared at her, challengingly.

The blankets were pulled up to their stomachs and so Natsu could see the curvature of her well endowed breasts, from underneath her tank top that she always wore to bed. And Lucy could see his broad, _bare_ toned chest as the moonlight provided just enough light.

And in no less than a day, their relationship was evolving into something and they didn't know if it was good or bad. This was a step into what ever direction that was because there was tension in the air.

"No."

He smirked, his eyes held a glint of satisfaction.

"But, I'm going."

Then his smirk was gone and he was seething again. He didn't like it but there was no stopping her because she was just like him...stubborn and once they had their mind set on something, they followed through no matter what. So, he would have to request that he go with her.

Silence enveloped the room again and she turned to face the ceiling and pulled the covers up to her chin whilst charcoal orbs observed her.

"I can't believe you had Laxus on the ground."

And then laughter erupted from both of them, waking Happy up who had been quietly snoozing at the end of the bed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lucy was on a double shift as she'd requested, so Natsu wasn't here with her. When the detectives did the double shift, they were on the beat with the rest of the uniformed cops, and so was wearing her blue uniform.

"Yo, temporary partner," said the voice from behind her.

It was Gray Fullbuster. She turned and narrowed her eyes. "What?" she snapped, unnecessarily.

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, hello to you too, Miss Snappy Tom."

So what if she couldn't keep her mind off Natsu's words from last night. Damn him.

"So...how come you asked for the double shift?"

The blonde sighed as she grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with water. They sat in the kitchen, on break, and it was eerily quiet. Mostly due to the fact that it was always a skeleton crew on the double shift. One uniformed officer was manning the radio (Lisanna and Wendy finished their work at six that evening), four uniformed partnerships were out on the beat as they spoke and then it was them in the office, just waiting for a call out.

She put the now filled cup to her lips, taking a sip of the cool water, her eyes avoiding Gray's.

"Is it flame brain?"

Lucy pursed her lips and turned to look at him with annoyance.

"Why would you think I care what he thinks?" she snapped.

Gray smirked. "Oh, so it is about him then. What's he done now?"

Silence enveloped the room as she went deep in thought.

"Did he say something tactless again?"

Lucy didn't respond but somehow he could tell that's what happened.

"N-no," she said unconvincingly. He hadn't really, he just spoke the truth so she couldn't be annoyed or upset about it.

They were partners and close - very close - friends and what more could she want? Why would she even be disappointed if he didn't care about her more than that?

And then she remembered. He was dating Lisanna, although, they hadn't been on a date in a few days. But through all the stuff going on lately, she'd totally forgotten.

Gray sighed and shook his head.

"What's with you two lately?" Gray looked at her, trying to work out their problem. "Wendy told me you were practically dry humping in the alley way, after our _undercover_ mission."

Lucy rolled her eyes, her cheeks red from the embarrassing thought. "W-we were not!"

"Loke told me that Natsu opened your door in his underwear-"

"He walks around like that! I can't stop him!" she defended, her eyes heated with defiance. She put the cup of water to her lips, gulping the rest down before getting up from her spot.

"Yeah sure you can't. He said Natsu slammed the door in his face when he accused him of having sex with you," laughed Gray as Lucy stormed out of the room, throwing the cup at Gray's head.

The black haired detective laughed louder as he dodged, getting up to follow her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Can you tell us the description of the person, ma'am?" asked Lucy, her notepad out, pen poised and ready to write down any details given that would be useful.

"I-I have a picture on my phone if you'll wait here a moment, I'll go and get it," spoke the elderly woman at the front door of her apartment.

Gray and Lucy had been called out to a mugging case. Alzack and Bisca had apprehended the suspect but they needed evidence to hold him. An eye witness had been identified, which is where they were at the moment, questioning her.

The two waited at the door way as the elderly woman slowly turned and walked off to find her phone.

"I wonder what Natsu is doing right now," said Gray with a smirk, his eyes not leaving the doorway.

Lucy grumbled.

"Probably sleeping," she said, her teeth clenched together in annoyance.

"Maybe he's in his underwear."

"Can you please shut up?"

"In your apartment."

"Probably...and will you give it a rest?"

"Maybe he's waiting for you to turn up and get undressed too."

"Oh my god! We literally sleep together, Gray. Can you get your mind out of the gutter for one second, please?"

Gray laughed quietly, eying the hallway to make sure no one was around. His eyes went back to the doorway. They could hear the woman inside, rummaging around and even called out to say she'll be another minute.

Lucy's brown orbs were narrowed and focused up on Gray. And what was taking the old lady so long to get her phone, anyway?

"But you want more than that though."

Her eyes widened and her cheeks went red as a tomato.

"Oh my god you do!"

She quickly gasped, leaning up and shoving her hand over his mouth. "Can you not? People will hear how unprofessional you sound!"

Then she pulled away and they were both silent as they turned back to the doorway, quietly, to wait patiently for the witness.

"Since when do you care about our love lives anyway...not that we have one! Well, except for Natsu."

"Huh?" asked Gray, turning to look at her with confusion. "What now?"

"Well, his dates with Lisanna. You know she's sweet on him."

The black haired detective adjusted his navy tie with a shake of his head.

"The fool doesn't even know that's what it is though. If he did, he wouldn't accept."

Lucy scoffed. "Who in their right mind would turn her down? She's so pretty...and kind too. She'd make any man a happy one."

Silence covered them again as they heard small footsteps begin to get closer from inside the old lady's apartment.

Gray's eyes were focused at the doorway, expectantly, but he decided to say something before the witness got back.

"But he doesn't have eyes for her. _Lucy_ , he only wants-"

"Here you go dears!" interrupted the old woman, holding out her phone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was three in the morning now and they were half way through coffee and a game of poker, trying to not feel as drained and tired as they had been earlier.

"I forgot what this was like," she groaned, taking a sip of her black coffee. It was her third and so she couldn't even be bothered to add milk.

"You never answered why you took this shift."

Gray studied Lucy. "Are you avoiding him? Last time you did that, he ended up-"

"Hey guys!" exclaimed an excited voice.

They both turned to find Natsu standing in the entry way with Happy in his arms. They both groaned. Earlier that night they had both agreed that if the idiot turned up, it just might ruin their night.

Natsu was in sweat pants, combat boots and a loose navy blue Mag PD t-shirt. His hair was messy, like he'd just gotten up. And why did Lucy find his appearance so appealing and sexy?

_No. BAD LUCY!_

"Speak of the devil," groaned Gray, sitting down his hand of cards on the table as he walked over to Natsu.

Lucy pursed her lips, observing the two as she slowly (she'd also like to think it was subtly) edged closer to Gray's hand of cards he had left on the table. Her eyes caught Natsu's and he raised an eyebrow at her from where he stood at the entrance to the kitchen. He could clearly see she was about to cheat.

As Gray began to turn around, Natsu slapped Gray on the shoulder, much to her surprise.

Even though he owed her pranks galore, it seemed as though Natsu was backing her up here.

"So Icicle, you were gonna challenge me last night?"

This caused Gray to turn back to him, giving her the opportunity to have a _slight_ peak at his hand. Natsu's eyes went to Lucy again as he noticed her peaking at the cards on the table - he wasn't even listening to a word Gray was saying.

Lucy appeared to be scowling.

 _He must have a good hand_ , thought Natsu with amusement.

A few minutes later, Lucy had bluffed her way to victory.

"No way! Did you fucking peak at my hand, you cheater?" exclaimed Gray with a glare, throwing his cards down in annoyance, right next to hers which were five random number cards of different suits. They were playing old style Poker, without a river (even though Lucy had wanted to play Texas Hold'Em).

Lucy feigned innocence. "Are you accusing me, Fullbuster?" Her brown orbs looked like puppy dog eyes but he wasn't falling for it.

Natsu sat next to Lucy and suddenly found the wall next to him to be very interesting. He didn't help her one bit. Nope.

He heard Gray start growling in annoyance. "I know you both just fucking ganged up on me. Did you actually have the nerve to call Natsu here _just_ so you could cheat, Lucy?"

She laughed. "Oh god, Gray, as if I'd go that far! _Not_ that I cheated..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

For some reason, Natsu stayed the rest of the shift. Even when they got called to break up a brawl at Fairy Tail right about half an hour before their shift was about to end - not because Mira couldn't handle it, because by word she _could_ \- but because it had started out as a drunken throw down and ended up involving all twenty of the customers and debris flew everywhere and Mira was afraid that someone could get seriously hurt.

They rushed in, yelling at everyone to calm down because the fight was over, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop it. Mira was behind the bar but motioned to Lucy, pointing over to a corner where two men were fighting. Lucy nodded.

Most of them had stopped immediately, knowing their limits, and walked out of the pub with apologies as soon as they realised the cops had arrived.

Gray and Lucy allowed them to leave because they had to focus on the few that remained - which would probably take all their focus.

There were a few people who thought they were heroes and didn't even know the difference between one of the customers they were brawling with to a police officer.

Two men lunged for Gray but Lucy knew he could take them and instead, focused on another couple of men who were duking it out, right near an innocent looking waitress.

She was crouched underneath one of the booth's tables, shivering in fear, her waitress tray clutched to her chest. The two men were pretty stocky, one shorter than the other. One had a beard, tattoos and a leather jacket (probably a motorcyclist) and the other wore a tattered suit jacket, crumpled suit pants and dress shoes. Obviously the latter had a hard day at the office and had been pushed to the limits and the other? Well, he was obviously just enjoying a good old fight, however, it was getting dangerous. They'd stopped using their fists and were grabbing nearby furniture and hauling it at each other.

"All right, sirs, break it up," said Lucy sternly, walking over to them in an authoritative manner.

The two men seemed to stop their ministrations (one had a chair in his hand, about to throw it) looked at her up and down and laughed. "You want in on the fight, girly?"

"Fuck off, we're settling this once and for all!" said the other one.

Lucy sighed.

"I'm a police officer. Please put down the chair, sir. Both of you turn and put your faces down on that table. You're under arrest," she said sternly, her eyes ablaze with annoyance.

Her hand sat on the hilt of her gun, ready at any time to unhook the clasp to unholster it at a moments notice.

All of a sudden, they lunged for her. They were slow and their movements, due to their drunk state, were easily readable.

One threw a slow right hook toward her, which she ducked under with ease, then the other one lunged to grab her into a bear hug from behind but she quickly leaned forward and thrust out her leg behind her in a perfect back kick, her foot landing squarely into the man's chest. He flew backwards in to a table, smashing part of the corner off.

She pulled out a pair of handcuffs and let them dangle by her side, while holding them in her thumb and index finger, her eyes focused on the last one standing. The man who was standing lunged for her again with a left hook and this time she ducked under it but opened the handcuffs and cuffed them around his wrist as he lunged past her.

Lucy was behind him now and yanked his wrist up behind him hard. He yelped in pain as she kicked the back of his leg with her booted foot, causing him to collapse to his knees.

"You're under arrest," she snarled angrily. She grabbed his other wrist and cuffed it.

She noticed Gray was starting to walk over to her, his own brawlers now in cuffs, unconscious on the ground.

"Watch it!" he exclaimed, his eyes focused on something behind her.

She got to her feet, turned and dodged the other man's attack, narrowly. How the hell did he get up so quick?

And then she saw Natsu pushing the man against a nearby table before she could take action. Natsu had a palm to the back of the man's head, squishing his face to the table and his other hand held the man's arm up high on his back.

"Jeez, you make it look so easy," she said with annoyance as she walked over.

Natsu pursed his lips, his charcoal orbs piercing into hers. Was he actually annoyed at her?

"Well, if you paid attention I wouldn't have had to intervene, Luce."

Lucy narrowed her eyes, walked over with another set of cuffs and handed them to him. "Well, since you're here..." she said with a shrug.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was Saturday and it was her day off. She opened her eyes to find natural light throughout her room. She stretched and as her arms and legs spread out across the bed, her foot hit something fluffy and soft.

She pulled the covers up and looked down to find Happy, staring at her with annoyance.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Well, you're invading _my_ space, cat," she grumbled.

She stretched a little more and her knee found another obstruction in her bed.

" _Natsu,_ " she snapped, her head turning to see pink hair sprawled across her other pillow.

Her partner yawned, turned and faced her. "What?"

"Don't you have work?"

He laughed. "Nope! Not today!"

Lucy shot out of the bed, grumbling all the way to the bathroom. So much for her peaceful day off!

When she got out of the shower, she saw Natsu in the kitchen looking for food with just his black boy leg underwear on. She stood still in the doorway of the bathroom, her eyes roaming his body, appreciatively.

And then she clamped them shut, her cheeks flushed. What the hell was she doing?

"Ah, you okay, Luce? Your cheeks are red."

She opened them to see Natsu crunching on some cereal he found in the cupboard, leaning on the counter. Happy was sitting on the breakfast bar next to him. They were both staring at her.

"W-well, can you put on _something!_ Jeez," she snapped. "No wonder people think you're my boyfriend." She said the last part more quietly, but evidently Natsu heard her.

She walked over to her dresser and pulled out a brush from her draw as she began to glide it her long blonde tresses as she sat on the bed. Natsu walked over and sat next to her, a shirt now in his hand as he pulled it over his head and pushed his arms through.

He wanted to ask _would that be so bad?_ But he didn't think she'd take that well. At least then he wouldn't have to worry about sleazes like Loke hanging around her.

"That's what people think, huh."

Lucy ignored him.

"Hey, I was thinking of a prank for next week," began Natsu, looking sideways at her.

Lucy stopped brushing for a moment and her brown orbs looked up at his expectantly.

"On who?"

"Well, everyone. What if we told them...you were my girlfriend."

Lucy's jaw dropped open, comically and she let go of her brush, which tumbled to the ground. The floor wasn't carpeted and so it made a large rattle sound on the floorboards and then silence followed.

"Um, what now?" she asked, her heart beating so fast she felt like it was going to blast out of her chest. Surely he could hear it.

Natsu smirked at her. "Let it last for the week-"

"I'm undercover from Tuesday and besides, you aren't good at acting," she said quietly, leaning down to pick up her brush.

Yes, it was just a prank. And Natsu, well, he was a jerk. He really had _no_ idea.

"Look Natsu, I think..." she began, her voice quivering a little, as she got up from the bed and walked to her wardrobe.

She wore a fluffly white dressing gown at the moment and decided she would go for a run now; needing to get her mind off his oblivious comments.

He just...had no fucking clue about people or relationships, like he had no feelings at all.

"...you should go to the precinct. I'm going out for a run and have some stuff to do today. Preparation for next week and other things."

"Lucy-"

"Can you please just...go?"

Natsu looked at her and wasn't really understanding what her problem was. Did he upset her?

"Luce, if its about the prank-"

"Natsu. How would that make Lisanna feel? So go to the precinct. If you're not going to work, take her out for lunch or something, I'm sure she'll love it," she said quietly, still facing the wardrobe.

He frowned at her words and watched her walk to the bathroom to get changed.

Why would he want to take Lisanna on a date, when all he wanted was to take Lucy?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

She'd effectively avoided Natsu until Sunday. He hadn't come over for once with Happy and she thanked the gods that he actually at least worked out that she was pissed at him.

Now she was at Levy's, talking about it with her, trying to really get someone to tell her what she should do.

Levy was smiling, like an idiot.

"What?!" snapped Lucy, annoyance clearly shown on her face.

"I-I'm sorry Lu, I just...I think you've got it all wrong here-"

"No I don't and I wish you'd stop saying that. Can you believe him? He really has no friggin' clue," she said in a dangerous tone, like she was going to snap at any moment.

"Just like someone else I know," said Levy, quietly.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at her friend. " _What was that?_ "

The small blue haired girl's eyes widened. "N-Nothing!"

"I'm going to that meeting undercover next week. So maybe it will take a while and maybe it will give us some space for a bit, ya know?"

Levy sighed. "Don't you think its strange that he stays at your house all the time?"

The blonde laid back from her position on the side of Levy's bed, stretching out as she looked up at the ceiling.

"W-we've done it since we were kids, its just that Natsu hasn't grown out of it but if I think about it...if I really go back, it was _me_ who started it-"

"I know that Lu but the truth is, Gajeel was saying he's actually not that stupid. People think he is, but he's not," explained Levy.

Levy sat at her desk, her red frames shaping her eyes as she was turned, away from the book she had been reading so she could focus on Lucy.

Lucy nodded. "I know that. He wouldn't have passed the entrance exam to the police academy if he was stupid," she laughed.

"She means, socially fucked," said a gravelly voice from the doorway.

The tall, lean, gruff partner of Levy's leaned against the door frame, his muscled arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't in uniform, his piercings now graced his face (since he wasn't allowed to wear them to work) and instead sported loose track pants and a black tank top.

Lucy looked to him in surprise and raised an eye brow at Levy.

"Oh? I see someone has practically moved in," poked Lucy with an amused smirk.

Levy's cheeks went a dark shade of red, her eyes widening a little at Lucy's remark.

"Oh, well...he comes over sometimes-oh what am I saying? You can't talk, Lu! Natsu is always at your place-"

"But not the past two days, ain't that right Bunny girl?"

Lucy frowned at Gajeel.

"Apparently he's over at Ice Prick's bitching about you," said Gajeel with a roll of the eyes.

"Anyway, what I was trying to say Lu was that he seems socially... _inept_ but he's not as bad as what you think. He knows what dating is and what kissing and cuddling and romance is, so maybe you just need to, I don't know. Maybe you should just come right out and say it," said Levy with a shrug.

Lucy cringed at the thought.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Monday night came. Nothing much had happened at the office or on the streets. The day had been filled with mostly her being in Laxus' office with Doranbolt, his partner, Loke and Natsu (because he kept coming in when he wasn't meant to and Laxus had just given in).

They were almost done. Lucy knew what she had to do. Her main goal was to identify the boss of the gang who would be present tomorrow at the meeting. She would be posing as Lucy Heartfilia (not much of a disguise since that is who was actually was) heir to the Heartfilia Corporation and would have a guard with her.

Laxus hadn't told her who that was yet but she would find out tomorrow.

"But don't worry, Princess, I'll be there and I'll have your back," winked Loke. He stood next to her, in front of Laxus' desk and Natsu stood on her other side, glaring at Loke.

"Don't get any ideas, pervert," snapped Natsu, his arms folded over his chest as his gave Loke a side glance.

Lucy sighed and looked to Natsu. He wore his black slacks, boots and a white button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up over his elbows, revealing his muscled forearms. She noticed the way he held himself today and realised, he hadn't smiled once through out the whole day.

And they still hadn't really talked after she practically kicked him out on Saturday morning. In fact, it was the first time she'd ever successfully kicked him out.

Loke smirked over at the pink haired detective, causing Natsu to glare even more.

"You've trained for this, Heartfilia so I'm sure you'll be fine," said Laxus' deep voice. He sat in his high back leather office chair, glaring at the two men as they began to talk behind Lucy's back (literally) - well it was more Loke taunting Natsu and Natsu threatening Loke.

Doranbolt's deep, cold voice cut through everything else, causing everyone to focus on him but _his_ eyes were on Lucy.

"The Commissioner expects results. You _know_ what will happen if you fail, don't you Miss Heartfilia...I mean Detective Heartfilia," he said with a smile, looking into her eyes from across the room.

Her eyes fell to the ground and nodded. Natsu looked at her in confusion but she didn't meet his eyes, how could she? But how could she go against Commissioner Hades?

Laxus clenched his fists, not only at how he knew what the consequences were but also at how Doranbolt treated Lucy. It creeped him out, hell, it creeped everyone out.

He knew that she _had_ to do this for all their sakes because if she failed, he'd lose another great detective.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Lucy sighed and nodded. "Do you trust me, Natsu?"

He pursed his lips and although he was angry, he nodded.

"I won't fail...I won't give them a reason to transfer me, I promise," she smiled over at him.

He sat opposite her but had already finished their food. She'd cooked a tuna pasta bake and roast vegetables and he'd already demolished it all plus the left overs.

"Are you actually eying my food right now, when you've literally eaten everything else?!" she snapped with annoyance.

Natsu sheepishly smiled, rubbing his hand to the back of his neck and then his eyes met hers. "Sorry, Luce."

But instead of angrily throwing something at him, she opted not to this time.

"How was your date with Lisanna on Saturday?" asked Lucy, conversationally, her eyes back to her food as she used her fork to stab some pasta and put it into her mouth delicately.

Natsu groaned. "Seriously, why do you keep pushing that?"

The blonde eyed Natsu dangerously. "Because she likes you. I know you're dense but surely you've noticed," she said with a roll of the eyes.

She put down her fork, grabbed their plates off the table and went to her kitchen, putting them to the side of the sink.

"Yeah we're friends of course she likes me!" he exclaimed, shaking his head as he came over to give her his empty glass, which had water in it earlier. "Jeez you're weird sometimes, Luce."

Lucy snapped her head toward him. "Oh god, you're more clueless than I thought! She likes you _romantically._ "

"Oh."

"Yeah 'oh' is exactly right. So maybe you should stop coming over here, now that you finally get it," she laughed lightly but deep down it sort of made her sad.

She began to empty the dishes into the dishwasher, so had her back to Natsu and so didn't see how disappointed he looked.

"Luce, I don't have time to date anyone, its such a waste of time. I mean, if I wanted to I could because ever since they put that stupid article in Source Weekly that had me in it and others, for some reason women just won't leave me alone!" he said with a cringe, thinking about the first day the article had been published.

Lucy's eyes widened but kept cleaning up. Of course he had women fawning over him, why wouldn't they? Natsu was young, attractive, driven and was an amazing detective.

He wouldn't be here, having dinner with her, forever. She had to accept that.

"You're right," she said softly, closing up the dishwasher and turned to look up at him.

She pulled a piece of hair behind her ear and gave a small smile. "You're an amazing guy, I'm sure you'll make any woman happy. And of course you have time, idiot, how many times have you come over here straight after work?"

"But we talk shop and sometimes we research cold cases, like Igneel's," he said, his voice becoming sombre.

Lucy's smile faded and she felt like an idiot. After all, it was the whole reason why they were at Mag PD to begin with.

Without any thought, she closed the gap between them and wrapped her slender arms around him, the side of her face resting on his chest. He enclosed his arms around her small form and smiled, resting his chin on top of her head.

"What's this for?" he said in low tones, his breath in her hair.

"Because...the whole reason we're here was for him. And with all the pranks and laughter and missions I guess I almost forgot, so, I'm sorry," she explained as tears came to her eyes. "And here I am lecturing you about finding a woman!"

Natsu laughed, pushing on her shoulders softly so she was forced to look up at him. His eyes stilled on her own when he noticed her tears and his expression changed. He reached down and used a thumb to wipe some away from her cheek and then his hand rested there. Just like it had in the alleyway a few days ago.

And then they noticed how close they were and that their lips were close now and then finally, they weren't.

They didn't discuss anything and simply ignored it all together. Even as they both thought back to what happened as they laid in bed next to each other, their cheeks both red as they thought back to how each others touch felt and how they'd kissed so lightly and then a few seconds later, much more fervently.

Lucy remembered how the bench had dug into her back as Natsu had backed her into it, their mouths locked together. She'd been breathless and had smiled through the kiss because it was what she had wanted for so long.

Natsu remembered how soft her lips were and how silky her hair felt as he'd snaked his hand up from her cheek to the back of her head. And he also wondered how he even knew what to do since that had been his first kiss, but he'd been so wrapped up in _her_ he just didn't care if he was bad or not.

Their bodies had been flush against each other and both of them remembered how they could feel every inch of the other, wondering how cruel it had been that thin pieces of material held back the touch of flesh.

But then Natsu remembered that he'd felt his erection and pulled away, embarrassed, and Lucy had looked up at him, her lips swollen and cheeks flushed.

He remembered thinking that he liked seeing her like that, knowing, that it was because of him that she looked that way.

And then it all settled in their minds as they both laid facing the ceiling, clutching the covers silently.

They were both horrified...because the others had been right all along. And there was one thing that they were both unanimous about and that was not giving in to their friends antics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for all the kudos. Again we have another chapter with some humor but a little more of the story development (meaning serious shit, I know, I know but you can't really expect a police department to be all shits and giggles all the time!). Oh and lots of NaLu! Sorry, but there's a small taste of two other ships. I promise I'll try to fit more of the other ships in there later on. Thanks.


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